The Flight of Dreams
by scooby2408
Summary: AU. In a world where the Millennium Puzzle never passed through Yugi Moto's hands, it must fall to another to walk the path of the Millenium Items and follow the destruction in their wake. For after 5,000 years of darkness everything starts to change.
1. The Silence of the Sands

A/N: Hi! Welcome to my first fanfic. This has been festering on my computer for too WAY long and I believe that it is high time I actually did something about it... so here it is.

Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

The Flight of Dreams

Prologue - The Silence of the Sands

Long ago, when the pyramids were still gleaming and the sand of time had only just begun for the human race, one nation stood before all others.One nation stood tall... meddling in things far more deadly than any mortal alive could imagine. The Shadows.

For many years, the Egyptians and their Pharaohs dabbled deeply into the Shadow Magic seemingly oblivious of what harm it was doing to their beloved country.

At last, the reality hit home. They were destroying Egypt, they were destroying the world and it had to stop.

A brave young Pharaoh finally sealed the dark magic away, forever, inside the mystical Millennium Items, swearing it was never to see the light of day again. Never to torment another soul again. _Never again. _

Nothing in the world comes without cost, and nor did this. In order to lock the magic away, the Pharaoh sacrificed his life. Everything he held dear, everything he'd loved; he gave it up to silence the magic for all eternity.

But eternity does not always last forever. Eternity is merely a passage of time, and time abides by no Earthly rules.

For centuries, the Millennium Items were lost to Mankind, buried under the very sand that created them. Lost beyond all knowledge of human existence, forgotten even by the Egyptians themselves.

Five thousand years after the Pharaoh gave his life to seal away the Shadows, Fate shall intervene and Destiny will order its judgement. Together, they will dictate everything that has happened and every event that will follow in its path.

It is by their will that those buried secrets, those lethal treasures, those deadly powers would be unearthed and return once again.

And on a solitary island called Great Britain, one girl slept innocently. Unaware of the events that had come before; ignorant to her future and perfectly oblivious to the events that were already unfolding around her.

Five thousand years later, somethings will change and others will return. Most importantly though, nothing will ever be the same again...

A/N: Well, there it is. I've completed the Prologue. YAY ME! I hope you enjoyed it.


	2. That Monday Morning Feeling

A/n: Whoo! Chapter one! Oh, and I forgot to mention this is AU fic where Yugi and co. fall up conveniently placed plot-holes. Well, most of them anyway.

Disclaimer- I don't own anything except my OCs.

Chapter One- That Monday Morning Feeling

_Good morning Birmingham. The time is 7.15am and you're listening to Matt Newmen with Early In The Morning Radio- the only radio programme that jump starts your day. In the studio today ... _

Izzy groaned as she reached over and whacked her alarm radio. It was Monday and she hated it.

She threw her quilt cover off. One of the worst thing she could do in the cold autumn months, but Izzy didn't hesitate. She knew that if she didn't, she would just nod back off to sleep and head to dreamland again.

Izzy was a normal kid; your average teenage girl. She had soft blue eyes and dark-brown hair, which was usually tied back to keep it out of her face. Izzy was a slim girl and was just over the average height.

Generally, Izzy had a pleasant demeanour, but she when she got angry... Well... the best thing to do was run. It wasn't often that she did, though.

Strictly speaking, her name was Isabella. Isabella Corbey, but everyone called her Izzy...Everyone except one... Her best friend- Alyssa simply called her Izz.

It had been her mother's idea. She was a university lecturer and just before Izzy had been born, her mother had been giving a lecture on Isabella of Castille- the famous Spanish Queen, and well the rest is history.

Izzy clambered out of bed and stretched. Another day. A new day, she sighed as she reached over and clasped a dainty object from her on her table.

Running a finger over the thin chain in her hand, Izzy watched the orbs glisten in the sunlight that was now creeping through her bedroom blinds. She grinned as she fastened the necklace around her neck.

She pulled out her school blazer from the crumpled heap of clothes on the floor and commenced the daily task of getting ready for school.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Izzy sat down in front of the telly. Her bag was lying at her feet- zipped up and ready for the day ahead. As she flipped through the channels, Izzy heard the faint sound of her mother yelling at her brother to hurry up.

Her brother was two years younger than she was. At twelve years of age, he could be described as a mini-genius.

In a contrast to Izzy's brown hair and blue eyes, Mike had blonde hair and brown eyes. He was a great gamer and he'd always flatten her at any game that they played.

The game at the moment was Duel Monster. It was a game of Magic and Monsters and was currently being played by a large majority across the world. It had only been released for a few years, but it was already one of the most popular card games in the world.

One of the reasons that Izzy had lost so much was that her deck needed extreme modification, but she hadn't had the chance to do it yet. It was one of those things that didn't seem important. After all, it was only a game.

Eventually, Izzy's mother stuck her head around the door,

"Izzy... Can you feed Cocoa for me. It looks like your brother isn't going to have time to do it now," her mother sighed before she turned her head towards the stairs and yelled, "MIKE... If you don't get down here soon, you gonna be late."

There was a tumble of noise as Mike made his descent down the stairs, still hastily trying to do up his school tie. He shot his mum and older sister an innocent grin, before he dived into the kitchen.

His mum shook her head,

"Brothers," she chuckled, "They can be a pain the neck most of the time but..."

"I wouldn't change him for the world." Izzy giggled as movement from upstairs began to descend to the hallway. Curiously, she looked at her mother, "Mum, why is Dad still here? Shouldn't he be going to work?"

Izzy's father worked with the police and had done so for many years. He was a detective inspector for the Birmingham Police, proving his willingness and determination time and again. A personality trait he passed on to his daughter

"Oh, your father's got a meeting later. He doesn't have to go in till this afternoon. Can you go and feed Cocoa," Her mother said gesturing at the kitchen. "It'll only take a few moments, then I can drop you two at school. Mike should be ready by then... I hope."

"I will," Mike chipped from somewhere inside the kitchen.

"You," Izzy said teasingly, happy with her mother's explaination about her dad, watching her brother attempt to spread margarine on his toast before she made her way to the garage door, "Are such an idiot, aren't you?"

"Hey!" He protested, " Am not!"

"That's enough you two," their mother interrupted suddenly from the lounge.

"Yes Mum," Izzy and Mike chorused, both returning to their respective tasks. Mike to finish his breakfast and Izzy to feed Cocoa.

Cocoa was their guinea pig and been theirs for little over a year. He was a cute little thing with brown and black fur with white splodges down his back and he absolutely adored food, particularly carrots.

This morning, Izzy opened the cage door to find Cocoa sitting by his food bowl, squeaking impatiently for her. He wanted his breakfast and Izzy was only too happy to oblige.

She gave him a little stroke down his back and smiled as Cocoa began nibbling her fingers affectionately. He loved the attention he received.

"There you go," Izzy said softly to Cocoa. "I've got to go now,"

She closed the cage and entered the kitchen to wash her hands.

As she did so, Izzy heard her brother and her mother fetching their respective coats.

Actually, it sounded like Mum was getting the coats as the recognisable tone of crunching toast could be heard from the hallway.

Izzy sighed as she turned off the tap and grabbed her bag and coat from the cloakroom before she followed her mother and brother out the door.

Their mum drove them to school everyday, just because it was on the way to the University of Birmingham. It was routine, something that had never changed since their first day of school.

It was raining again much like it did any other day in October. Izzy shivered and clambered into the car as Mike followed her- still munching his breakfast- and climbed into the back-seat beside her.

"So Izzy, you ready for today," Mike grinned as he reached for his seat belt, "I know how you simply adore Mondays and that French Exam you've got today!"

"Shut up," she yelled, annoyed at being reminded at the looming test before her and reached over to punch her brother.

She would have done so with ease, if it hadn't been for her seat belt restraining her. " You little..."

By this point, Mum had entered the car.

"Izzy, stop trying to kill your brother."

Izzy burst into immediate protest at that. Mike just grinned.

"And Mike," Mum continued as she fitted her seat belt, "Stop winding your sister up." Mike's face fell as Izzy stuck her tongue at him. "I saw that!" Mum added.

Oh... and remember you two I've got to go back to work tonight for a lecture at 5 o'clock. I'll leave tea in the oven for you."

The kids nodded and fell into silence for the rest of the five minute journey.

Once at school, Mike jumped out to meet his friends before Izzy had even grabbed her bag.

"Have a great day honey." Her mum smiled as Izzy opened her door and stepped into the rain. "Good luck on that test."

"Don't worry, I will!" Izzy said reassuringly as she shut the door and watched the silver car slide from the car park before she to began to make her way through the green school gates to find her own friends.

A/N: I know, I know. First, I scrubbed the main characters, and then Igo and change the setting, . Oh and by the way, the thing with Isabella of Castille- she was a famous Spanish Queen around the 14th century and along with her husband- Ferdinand II of Aragon united all of Spain..

I'll update soon if you press that Review Button.


	3. Friendships in the Rain

**A/N: Chapter Two, at last. Since many characters in this fic are actually Japanese and therefore speak it as a language (and since I 'm too lazy to find what exactly the translations would be anyway) all speeches and conversations with said character with be done with Italics.**

_Italics - Speaking Japanese_

**Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-GiOh. I only own my own characters**

Chapter Two - Friendships in the Rain

"Morning," Izzy gleefully announced to the group standing in the corner by the bin as she made her way over to them. There was a collective mumble as the others grumbled a greeting.

Usually, the responses were cheerful and warm, but not today. Today it seemed everyone was in a foul mood for some reason. Monica was muttering dark curses under her breath while Jenny and Sam were scowling at something. Simon - only lad stood shaking his head. The drizzle not doing much to improve their moods.

"Hey," Izzy asked eventually, after studying her friends' facial expressions for a few moments, "What happen... Sam?"

Izzy had known Sam since that first day of secondary school. They both had been lost on the way to Music- hidden away in the most obscure corner of the school and a great friendship had been born that day. Sam shook her head, refusing to say anything, and allowed her long blond hair to fly out and smack Jenny in the face.

"Oww!" Jenny yelped, jumping out of the firing range. Jenny was another friend Izzy had met at school. She too adored animals- specially her dog Sally. "Watch it!"

"Simon," Izzy tried. She had been friends with Simon since they were about six. They had gone to the same primary school and had never really left each other since then. He had short, blond hair that looked almost fluffy and had green eyes.

He bit his lip before looking at Monica. Monica was the Goth- the scary one with jet-black hair. She hadn't liked Izzy to begin with- though she was too serious and stuck-up, but Izzy had won her around with a little help from Alyssa - speaking of whom should have been here by now.

Monica ground her teeth and spat with venom,

"Who do you think?"

Izzy sighed resignedly "Them."

* * *

Them needs a bit of description. Them were actually two girls by the names of Máirín and Ophelia. They were the worst type of girls imaginable. They thought everybody was beneath them and bullied pupils to get what they wanted. In short they were mean, snobbish and determined to make everyone else's lives a misery

Máirín was the more dominate of the two- the leader, the boss. Whatever she said, you did - end of story. You didn't argue with her, not matter how much you hated her.

Opehlia was the softer spoken of the two but still horrid in her own right. She was the one who would sneer at you behind your back and start rumours. She would offer help, then laugh at you.

Izzy had had a couple of run-ins with the both of them over the past three years. Mostly it was catcalling and whispering things behind her back. That was bad enough, it always made Izzy feel terrible when she knew people were talking about her, but with Máirín and Opehlia, it was worse. You never knew if one of them would stop the verbal abuse and lash out at you.

And unfortunately, Izzy had to share a form group with them

* * *

Form was slightly more interesting today. Theirs was technology classroom with the interesting gizmos and gadgets dotting around and the sawdust scattered on the floor, forgotten by the cleaners. On the window, sat the creations of past students, delightfully present to decorate this otherwise bare classroom.

The form tutor successfully completed the register without the usual candidates making idiots of themselves and gave out the daily messages - nothing of real importance which meant that the form had plenty of time to do things of more importance- talk.

Several lads began the morning ritual of lobbing things across the room much to the loud protests of the teacher while in the back corner sat Izzy and her friends.

"So it turns out the car could have exploded... with us in!" Alyssa said sarcastically shoving her glasses back up her nose. Apparently, there was some fuel leakage in the Trent family car and was it was now happily residing in garage. "The garage knew for months the car could explode... but do they tell us... Oh no! We can been blown to kingdom come for all they care."

Izzy shook her head. Alyssa was crazy. There was no other word to describe her. Everything about her was insane. Everything from her untamable hair to her eternal optimism. She was funny and was always there when someone needed her.

They had known each other since they were about five years old. They went to the same church, but had never really spoken to each other. Izzy was too quiet and Alyssa was too loud. You wouldn't have thought that those two girls who would today be the best of friends.

On the next table sat Máirín and Ophelia. They were giggling over a magazine - not unusual for them. They were always goggling over some celebrity. This time was different though, it was a computer magazine.

"Why are you two reading that... and who is that?" Alyssa said, leaning over and pointing at the picture over which the two were drooling. Ophelia and Máirín goggled at her.

"You don't know who that is," Máirín screeched at her, ramming her finger against the photo several times. "I guess the Freak Patrol would never of heard of him,"

"No," Alyssa replied flatly returning the insult, "Which is why I'm asking a couple of morons like you." They scowled at her.

"As if you would want to know, but that's Seto Kaiba. He's a genius. He's the youngest successful businessman in the world," Máirín said dreamily.

"Not to mention cute," Ophelia giggled. Behind her, Jenny and Sam snorted.

"He's rich." Máirín mumered, practically drooling on the picture.

"He's the perfect boyfriend." The pair concluded in unison.

Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Great." She said sarcastically," Fantastic! As if that's gonna help you with that French test today." Alyssa paused and turned to Izzy, "Which I would be willing to bet, from the look on your faces that you forgot. You two haven't revised for it, what do ya think Izz?"

Izzy shrugged her shoulders,

"Well," she said reasonably, fully aware that any word that she said to the pair of them, could return to bite her later. " I hate to say it, but I agree with Alyssa. Monsieur Chámillion gave us a week to prepare for the Exam. You should have revised for it. " They glowered at her as she turned her back to them and returned to her friends.

"Ahh!" Sam grumbled, as Izzy returned to the square table, "The French test. I forgot all about it. You had to remind me, didn't ya." She said pulling out her French textbook and skimming through it, while her friends watched in mild amusement. "I'm gonna fail..."

After much fretting and panicking, the bell echoed in the form room releasing the pupils to their various lessons and for some unfortunate students, the dreaded French test that awaited them.

* * *

French was located on the top floor of the school building- with only three tiny narrow staircase leading up to it. Reaching it was a challenge in itself, but when you have half the school forcing and shoving their way through in the opposite direction, the prospect of walking up those stairs was less than appealing.

"Ahh!" Alyssa grumbled to Izzy, as they, Sam and Jenny began the long and tedious climb to the Languages Department. She glanced up at her friend on the step above her as people began walked past them on the staircase. "Why do we study French anyway? I, mean..."

Someone collided with her, nearly sending the poor girl flying as the perpetrator - a rather big year seven pupil- became lost in the surge of students.

"You okay," Izzy said offering her hand to her friend. She took it, rolling her eyes.

"I swear they get bigger every year," Alyssa said, shaking her head. "As I was saying," she added, continuing with what she had been saying before the lad had collided with her, "Why can't we study something useful,"

"You mean like Japanese?" Izzy smirked as Alyssa's face broke into a wide grin.

Alyssa adored everything about Japan- the language, the culture and the history. She knew everything about the country - from the newly released games to an understanding of the complicated language that was spoken in the Land of The Rising Sun.

This fascination with Japan was probably due to the fact that Alyssa, herself, was part Japanese. Her grandfather had served in the British Army over in Japan during the Second World War and had met Arisu- Alyssa's grandmother while in service. It had been love at first sight and within a few months, they were married.

Alyssa was immensely proud of her heritage- learning the complicated language and even teaching it to her friends and as a result they all had a good grasp of the language.

_"Yeah!_" She chuckled, slipping in to Japanese tongue. _"That would be vast improvement on French." _

At last the four of them reached Language Floor and with a wide grin Izzy turned to her exhausted friends, "C'est le vie!"

"... Shut up."

* * *

"I knew I'd failed that," Sam grumbled, brandishing the recently completed French paper. Well one thing was for sure, Monsieur Chámillion didn't waste anytime marking it. They had all finished it within 30 minutes and had been returned to them by the end of the lesson.

"Well, we know someone who didn't do great in the test," Alyssa commented wryly as the group emerged from the classroom to find Máirín and Ophelia hovering over each other's results- two big red zero were clearly visible on both papers. Izzy rolled her eyes.

" Come on," she said at last, gesturing at the already packed stairway, "I hate to say this, but we're already late for Maths. We don't want to be any later."

Sighing and grumbling, her friends nodded in agreement and began to navigate the stairs to reach their second lesson of the day - Maths.

"It's funny how fast life can change," Alyssa commented as the pair of them studied the map of Europe before them "I mean think about it, Napoleon was the most successful person in his time- conquering much of Europe." She waved her arm over the map. "France, Italy, Prussia." Her fingers lingered briefly over Egypt, before adding that to her list. "All fell before his army."

"Nothing in his way," Izzy continued, "Until one small country says no. One army defies him - refusing to hand their country to him." She pointed at Belgium, "The Battle of Waterloo. The forces of Prussia and Britain- under the command of the Duke of Wellington - against the might army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte." She grinned, "It's great to be British."

Alyssa nodded as she began scribbling down the notes. The two friends were in the school library attempting the history homework that had been set previous lesson. An essay on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte- the man who took it upon himself to become a Emperor

Suddenly she looked up.

"Izzy, do you think anything like that could possibly happen to us? With the way the world is changing around us, do you think anything that we could take for granted will change into something we that we can't explain, no matter how hard we try?" Alyssa shoved her glasses back up her nose, before continuing. "Do you think we follow a path already set for us? Are we really players or are he being played.

Izzy considered her for a moment before answering,

"No!" She said flatly, "Our world is normal; we're normal kids. I don't thing anything like that could ever happen to us."

Alyssa sighed.

If you say s..." A sudden pain surged through her chest. Pain that wouldn't stop. Pain that was tearing her apart. She was gasping for air, unable to catch her breath. The more Alyssa struggled, the harder it was to breathe.

Moving closer to her friend, Izzy grabbed her friend's arm.

As suddenly as the pain had begun, it vanished and Alyssa sat up again, blinking..

"Are you okay Alyssa?" Izzy asked, afraid of what had just happened to her friend.

"Nothing. It's nothing," Alyssa mumbled, removing her slipping glasses from her face.

"Are you sure?" Izzy said unconvinced by the lack of response from her friend.

"I SAID I'M FINE." She snapped. Izzy flinched, released her hand and took a step back. Alyssa never snapped at her or anyone for that matter. Izzy was the one with the temper, not Alyssa.

Replacing her glasses, Alyssa shook her head,

"Sorry," she said distractedly. "Don't know what came over me. Anyway, we best get on with this." She gestured at the map, "However much I want it, this essay isn't gonna write itself..."

"Yeah," Izzy said quietly as the pair continued with their notes, albeit much more quietly

* * *

As Izzy unlocked the front door, her mind was still wandering in her memory of Alyssa in the Library. It was unbelievable, really. Izzy was still shaken from her friend's edgy attitude. Alyssa was never like that, never had. It was like whole different person had controlled her best friend.

Closing the door behind her, Izzy shrugged her bag from her shoulders and turned around. She dropped it and it landed with a loud thump.

A hastily wrapped brown box was sitting on the hall table. A rectangular parcel with untidy scrawl on the side - an address. Her address and her full name - Isabella Helena Corbey.

Curiously, Izzy reached out to touch the package and as she did so, a feeling of warmth spread from the tips of her fingers, travelling up her arm to the rest of her body.

She smiled.

**A/N: See! Not everyone from Yu-Gi-Oh has fallen up plot holes. Seto's around sorta. He'll turn up in a few more chapters... I think.**

**Any Reviews are welcome**


	4. Beneath the Surface

A/N: I wrote the orginal of this chapter eons ago and with a splash of revison I present to you Chapter Three. Enjoy.

Dislaimer - I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I only own my OCs.

/Yami to Hikari/

/Hikari to Yami/

Chapter Three -Beneath the Surface

Izzy rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Blearily, she peered up at her clock. Quarter to twelve. It was nearly midnight. She'd been working on the Puzzle for nearly eight hours and yet... and yet she wasn't finished.

It had been a box. A golden box with a single eye upon the front. It had looked so familiar, but she couldn't think where she had seen it before. As she cracked the lid open, centuries of captured dust and decay gushed out - escaping at last from their long imprisonment.

Izzy had choked back the dust before she had been able to peer inside. Inside were several intricately designed pieces - almost like pieces from a giant jigsaw puzzle. There had definitely something eerie about them. Something almost intoxicating about them... she just had to try and put them together.

Her parents and brother had gone to bed long ago. Only Izzy was awake and that suited her. There was something strange about it. Something mysterious but magnificent. Something calm yet creepy. Like something weird was going to happen...

Two pieces left. Izzy had been fiddling with all the pieces for at least three hours before she had finally got a hit. As she placed each piece, that strange feeling that seemed to ooze through her skin, grew larger.

As the Puzzle - as she dubbed it - took shape more and more, Izzy couldn't help but think. It looked so much like...

One piece left. All that eight hours work had paid off. She had nearly completed the Puzzle. What ever it was, it was nearly finished and soon she could find out exactly what it was.

Izzy paused and admired her work before placing the last piece. As she picked it up, Izzy felt a cold breeze on her neck. Cold fingers dancing on her neck.

She shivered, closed her eyes and blinked several times. Nothing happened.

Izzy shook her head and continued,

She slotted the last piece in and... nothing happened.

"Wow," Izzy muttered quietly as she turned the completed puzzle over, fingering the rope in one hand. "I can't believe I finished it..."

The words were hardly out of her mouth when the Puzzle began to shake violently. It took much of her strength to hold it still.

"Hey... ? What gives...?" She gasped as purple shadowy streams began tumbling from the Puzzle itself.

An unnatural wind began howling around the room- rattling the window blinds and knocking her pictures and photos from her walls. It was a force like nothing she'd ever seen or felt before- evil and deadly.

Worst was to come. Every strand of purple shadow became a monster. A living, breathing, terrifying monster.

Not just any monster, Duel Monsters.

Izzy watched in horror as she saw each monster materialise, swirling evilly around her. Panic began setting in - She had never seen anything like this before.

A blue and black Worm Drake coiled itself around her like a cobra wrapping itself around it's next prey. It was rearing it's head, ready to attack.

Out of the corner of her eye, Izzy saw a Morinphen and an angry Gilasaurus ready to pounce.

At her feet, a tiny Kuriboh stumbled past. It's innocent purple eyes that could do nobody any harm. Izzy felt almost relieved when she saw it, until it revealed it's sharp teeth and lunged forwards.

Izzy wanted to scream, but it froze in her mouth. The fear stilled her tongue.

In her hands, the Puzzle began to glow with an intense brightness, getting brighter and brighter until she couldn't no longer see anything.

The Puzzle was indeed giving out a strange white light, and it was circling Izzy.

Suddenly, the fear seemed to melt away, leaving nothing but peace and harmony. A greater power was now working against these 'shadow creatures'.

She could hear it. It was commanding the light. No... It wasn't it. It was he.

He was commanding the light and ordering the creatures away. He was protecting her...

Slowly, the darkness and monsters melted into the light as Izzy quietly slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Are you alright?" 

Izzy rolled over trying to catch her breath again. Her heart was still pounding violently against her chest.

She couldn't believe it. Had it really been only dream, but it had felt so real. She could still taste the memory of her own fear.

And that voice. The one who had banished the creatures away. Izzy could almost hear him again. Speaking to her.

"Are you okay?" The voice repeated again.

Izzy jumped.

"Bloody Hell!" She yelled as her eyes locked on to the person standing beside her for the first time.

He was young, that she could tell and kinda handsome in a strange sort of way. He had the weirdest hair Izzy had ever seen. It was spikey, almost to the point of gravity-defying and it seemed to be a peculiar merge of black and a deep crimsony-purple. Strands of goldeny-yellow bangs sat gently on his forehead, slightly covering one of his eyes.

"I said, are you alright?" He said offering his hand. Izzy stared at it. "I won't bite," he added smiling.

Reluctantly, she took his hand and he helped her stand up.

"See... Now how you feel?" he asked.

"I..." Izzy began, looking at him but then she stopped, realising that the completed Puzzle was still in her right hand. "I dunno," she said eventually, making eye contact. "I honestly don't know..."

"'Okay... First things first, can you remember your name?" Izzy stared blankly at him before looking past him at the room.

"Pardon." She answered distractedly, while looking at her surroundings. This was beyond crazy. It was a mixture of ancient tomb and passage ways that would not lookout of place in a Esher painting. There corridors leading off in every direction. Some, Izzy realised as she glanced upwards were on the ceiling. In all directions.

"Name," he said quite conversationally. "I presume you have one." Izzy nodded, returning her eyes back to him.

This guy was strange. Izzy had never seen him in her life, but there was something about him. He had a feeling of strong power around him, but there was also something comforting about his presence.

"Izzy," she offered eventually. "So...what's your's?

"Ahh," he grimaced, "That I don't actually know."

"What?"

"I guess I had one once," he supposed, "but I can't remember it."

Izzy shook her head,

"Fine Mr-Person-With-No-Name, where..." She began, gesturing at their weird surroundings.

"Spirit, actually," he interrupted. "Kinda like a darker half."

"Fine...Mr-Spirity-Pers..."Izzy paused and looked at him again, "Hang on... Since when did I have darker half?

"Since you finished that." He said pointing at the Puzzle still in her hand. "I guess completing it released me."

"Wait. You mean you live inside this thing," she shot, glancing down at the Puzzle, before returning her eyes to his face.

"Well... yes and no." He sighed. "I do reside generally in the Puzzle which is where we are by the way," he added, "But I have a special link to my hikari..."

"Hikari!"

"Yes. It means light and..."

"I know what it means," Izzy snapped, then instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just confused. I mean we're really in here." She said waving the Puzzle at him.

He smiled at her,

"Yes. I know. I can read your mind." Izzy just looked at him, declining to comment. "And..." He trailed off into silence as his voice erupted inside her head /We can talk through the mind-link/. Izzy still looked confused. /Telepathic/ he explained through the new mind-link. /Try it/.

Still confused and alarmed, Izzy let her curiosity get the better of her.

"How do I do it?" She asked curiously, "I'm not telepathic..."

"I'm not either." Izzy just stared at him. "Just direct your thoughts towards me. I'll get them."

So despite her better judgment, she tried it.

/Okay. This is beyond.../ Izzy froze and put her spare hand to her mouth. Had she really just...? "Did I just...?"

He nodded.

"Yes, you'll get used to it,"

"What?" She asked, "What do you mean I'll get used to it? You gonna stick around, then?" Again he nodded.

With a small sigh Izzy looked down at the Puzzle and held it with both hands. For a moment or two, there was silence as Izzy's mind began to race through her life. She saw each moment. The good and the bad. Her hopes and dreams. Her friends. Her family. She was just an ordinary kid. What had made her so special?

But then again why must we be forced to walk the easier path. Sometimes you need to make a instant decision about which path you will take and for Izzy there was only one answer.

She looked up again and lifted the rope around her head. The puzzle glinting elegantly on her chest as she broke the silence.

"Okay." She offered her hand to him. Smiling, he took it. "Isabella Corbey. Only never call me that. I hate it, so call me Izzy."

He chuckled,

"'I'll try to remember that," he paused, then added, "I still need a name you know."

"Oh, yeah!"

This guy had called her hikari and she knew that meant light. She was his light and he was her darkness. They were opposites and if she was hikari which meant light, then he was darkness which was...

"Yami!" she blurted, "It means dark." She explained, "Your my darker half so... I guess I'll call you Yami."

She watched him as he thought it over, hoping she'd made the right decision "Hmmmm," he mused, contemplating his new name, "Yami," he grinned, "I like it."

"Well then, Yami, Spirit of the Puzzle, welcome to my..." Izzy cut off suddenly as a huge wave of tiredness swamped her, taking away her excitement and curiosity and left her barely conscious. Izzy felt herself slipping to the floor as sleep began to overtake her.

"Wohhh!" Yami cried as he caught her before she actually hit the floor. "I think you need some sleep. You're tired." He said as he brushed some strand of her hair out of her face. "Come on, I'll take you back to your soul room. You can get back from there."

Izzy was barely conscious to make any note of what he was saying, but she knew he was helping her across the room, to what her blurred vision saw was a door.

It opened to reveal stone corridor that stretched as far as the eye could see on both sides. No end and no beginning. This corridor was empty, except for two wooden doors.

The first was the door that led to the strange room where she had met Yami. The door, itself was scary enough. It had a large looming brass eye that seemed to challenge all trespassers who stumbled on it.

The other was opposite the first door and much more ordinary. It looked like a normal wooden door, like the ones in cottages buried deep in the countryside. It felt warm and comfortable. It was home.

Yami kicked the door and it creaked open to show a warm and cozy white light. He let Izzy go and gently ushered her through the doorway.

"Go on. Bed," he ordered. Izzy was too tired to argue. She nodded numbly. "Okay," Yami added, "I'll see you later." And with he turned on his heel and the door slammed shut behind him, leaving Izzy to drift at last into the world of sleep.

Once more in the labyrinth of the Puzzle, Yami sighed. It was strange after spending what seemed like an eternity imprisoned in a golden pyramid he was free at last. True, strictly speaking he was restricted to the Puzzle and his new host, but still.

And Izzy herself - there was something about her. Yami couldn't place his finger on it. She was fiery one, that was for certain and he could tell that she was one to stand by her beliefs no matter what was thrown at her.

The most incredible thing was that she'd excepted his new presence in her life with any question and didn't resent him for interfering with her cozy world. She trusted him and he vowed he would never betray that trust.

With his head still musing about his new hikari Yami turned and left in search of a room in the impossible maze of the Puzzle that he could at last now call his own.

A/N: He's back! Told ya not all the Yu-Gi-Oh cast fall up holes. Now the action should heat up at last!


	5. The Safest Place to Be

A/N: Explanation Time! Since I'm British and have set my fic in Britain, the education system is based on the British one. Izzy and co are in Year 10 which is equivalent to 9th Grade and Mike is in Year 8 which is equivalent to 7th Grade. With that out of the way...

Disclamier: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. I only own my own charcaters.

Chapter Four - The Safest Place to Be

**She felt the golden sands swirl like endless waves at her feet as she glided across, like a free spirit dancing to a beat was no more. Above the merciless Sun blazed down on her, unforgiving and ruthless. The air so warm as it danced its path, brushing her arms and face with an smoky glow as she moved with the sands. Never-ceasing, never-ending, never-stopping.**

**There was a murmur in the distance - a cry from beyond the shadows. A voice calling her name. Pleading with her. She ignored it. Running now, she felt a swell of tears trickling down her face as her blue eyes saw something her mind refused to acknowledge.**

**Dancing, Swirling, Flickering, Twisting, Twirling. Following the way of an ancient dance and obeying each precise movement, not once treading from the path, was her home now laced with crimson fire and billowing smoke.**

**Blinded by her tears, she stumbled forwards towards the fire that engulfed her home. Gone. Everything gone. Everything she'd known, everything she'd loved gone. She was alone. Alone. **

**She felt someone holding her back - stopping her from reaching the fire, protecting her from the burning glares of death. She felt the warm arms that held her as she cried for dead and dying, the burnt and burning, the past and present. **

Izzy shot forwards - gasping for air that refused to come. Her nightmare still tormenting her mind - casting all her shadows and fears into the open as she struggled to come back to reality.

She buried her head in her hands - trying to make sense of her dream. Had it really been only a dream, but it had felt so real. She could still feel the heat prickling on her flesh - dancing on her arms. It was beginning to become blurry now and fussy. She couldn't remember much of it - only flickers of light and heat and the undeniable feeling of loss.

Izzy sat for a moment just breathing. Through her window she could hear the sound of birds chirping and cars roaring as they passed the house. It was normal - her home.

"Izzy!" Her mother barked through the bedroom door. "You need to get up. You gonna be late!" Izzy groaning slightly, turned her head to look at her alarm and blinked several times. It was five to eight. She had twenty minutes before they left for school.

With her head now firmly set in this reality Izzy climbed out of bed and found to her surprise that she was still wearing her school uniform - why hadn't she changed out of it?

Shrugging away the notion, Izzy wandered over to her wardrobe to pick out a fresh shirt and trousers.

Her school uniform wasn't that bad - a white shirt and navy-blue trousers. Like most other schools in area, Compton School of Secondary Education insisted that all pupils wore the school tie - sapphire and red. For the younger students a school jumper with the school logo was required, but for the unfortunate older ones - including Izzy and her friends - it was a school blazer that they were forced to wear during school hours.

Standing in front of her mirror, Izzy began retying her school tie to complete her uniform - still slightly oblivious to the golden pyramid that hung around her neck and the slight glow it was giving off.

Behind her, a semi-tranparent figure with slightly remarkable tri-coloured hair slowly materialised. He blinked a few times as he adjusted to his new surroundings before settling his eyes on Izzy.

Studying his hikari for a few moments, Yami cleared his throat.

"You wear that thing?" He said, indicating her uniform

Izzy jumped.

"YAH!" She screamed, looking for a moment at the reflection the shadowy intruder before spinning to face him. "What the...? Who the...? What are you...?" She stopped and looked down at the golden ornament that hung around her neck. A replica of which was now hung at the intruder's chest. "Oh," she said as her memories of the previous evening came back to her. "Yami," Izzy said eventually.

He raised an eyebrow,

"Glad you remembered." Yami said wryly, before he added, "You had nightmare last night, didn't you."

"No but... yeah, I had a nightmare but how do you know about that?" Izzy answered hesitantly.

"One - I do have access to your mind if you remember," Izzy nodded, "And two - you were screaming and sobbing." "What was it about?"

Izzy paused briefly, closing her eyes. Should she tell this man - this virtual stranger the dream she had last night. She hardly knew this man and he expected her to tell him. More importantly could she trust him? Deep down she knew the true answer, but a small part of her wanted some reassurance.

She opened her own eyes and looked straight into his and she saw the concern that stared back. He smiled at her, prompting an answer.

"Fire." Izzy said eventually. "Everywhere engulfed with flames and nothing I could do to stop it.. It's hazy now, but I remember, I can still remember the screams of the dying."

"It was only a dream, through." Yami concluded with a reassuring smile

"Yeah, but it had felt so real." She muttered as she moved over to her desk.

Yami stood and watched Izzy pick up a golden chain from her desk.

"That's an curious piece of jewellery." He noted, watching it shimmer in the palm of his hikari's hand. "I don't think I have ever seen quite like it before. Where did you get that from?"

She held the necklace up so the light that was beginning to creep through the blinds and hit the three white orbs; shattering, sending flickers of light around the whole room.

"This?" She let out a long sigh, "It must be a few years. I must been about 9 or 10 when Mum went on a teaching course in France. She said she got it in a market stall and speaking of jewellery - just how long have been in this thing anyway?" Izzy asked, nodding at the Puzzle.

"Don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

Izzy rolled her eyes.

"Typical!"

* * *

"Izz... Earth to Izzy!" Alyssa bellowed at her friend for the second time that lunch hour. They had been evicted from the School Library due to the new refurbishments in there - or so they claimed. Therefore, Izzy and her friends were outside. "I said, what's wrong?"

"Yeah, you've been out of it all day," Jenny pointed out as she munched her on sandwich. Sam nodded as she too much on her crisps.

Izzy raised her head and looked at her friends.

"I'm just tired, that all. Got a headache." she said, hoping that would distract her friend from any futher questions. It didn't. In fact it made her more inquisitive.

"And, what is with the golden pyramid?" Alyssa commented as she lobbed her banana skin into the bin. "You didn't have that yesterday."

"You would not believe me, if I tried." Izzy said tiredly as Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

"You're lying to me, aren't you?" She sighed resignedly, "If you don't want to tell us, that's fine... I guess..." Alyssa glanced over her friend's shoulders and saw an unwelcome sight. A very unwelcome sight in the form of Máirín and Ophelia coming their way. "Speaking of trouble, here it comes," Alyysa muttered under her breath as the aforementioned people stopped a few feet away from them

"Anyway I think the second part of the Japan regional semi-finals for duel monsters is tonight." Alyssa mentioned as she returned her eyes to her friend, "You gonna watch it?"

"I remember Mike mentioning something about it. Who's dueling?" Izzy considered, ignoring the deadly duo behind them.

"Can you believe it Ophelia." Máirín said loudly, turning to her friend. "Some freaks actually like those stupid card games."

"I never thought I'd see the day," Ophelia agreed in a similar volume. She turned expectantly to see a reaction. There wasn't any.

Izzy and Alyssa were continuing their conversation.

"I think it's Rex Raptor and Mako Tsunami." Alyssa was saying, "Cassie reckons Mako could do it, but I think Rex will go through. Have you seen..."

/Izzy/

She blinked. Had she really heard that? Izzy glanced at her friends. Alyssa was still talking high speed about the upcoming match - oblivious to the voice. Likewise, Sam and Jenny who were ingrossed in a pony magazine were oblivious to any other voices.

/Izzy! It's me - Yami. I'm using the mind-link/ Yami repeated, more urgently this time. Curious, Izzy began focusing her mind on the mind-link

/What's wrong/ She asked unsure of why her darker half needed to talk to her.

Yami hesitated briefly before he answered,

/Remember earlier, I told about the connect we now share/ Izzy mentally nodded and added,

/Yeah, What about it/

/I'm afraid it allows me a certain control over your mind and body.../ He trailed off.

"What?" Izzy demanded. Alyssa shot her a curious look.

"I was talking about the regionals and you went into a daze," She poked her friend in the middle of the forehead - making Izzy go cross-eyed. "Are you sure you're alright?" Izzy nodded.

"Yeah," she said, "

" I said you're pathetic." They ignored the speaker.

/You need to give to me control now/ Yami yelled down the mind-link.

"You really are pathetic!" Máirín tried again. Still no response.

/Trust me. Just give me control/ he tried again.

Reluctantly, Izzy allowed Yami to take over. She felt a strange sensation as her mind elapsed into the deepest parts of her consciousness.

"You think you're so clever," Máirín declared as she raised her fist, "But I'll show you that you're not..."

She threw her fist at 'Izzy' with so much force that it would have sent her flying.. You could almost hear the sickening crunch as Máirín's fist collided with Izzy's skull. However, at the last moment, 'Izzy' side-stepped to the left out of harm's way.

Unfortunately for Máirín though, her momentum carried her straight past Izzy and she fell headlong into the bin. Even worse luck was that Deputy Headmistress DuBois had been walking past at that moment and seen the attempted punch.

After being hauled out of the bin by Ophelia, Máirín was faced with a very angry Ms. DuBois and not to mention several students snickering at her. She was not happy.

"We taught you to never to anything to do anything like that." Ms. DuBois snapped at Máirín. "I'm ashamed of you Máirín. I expected better of you..." To Máirín the Deputy's voice simply trailed into nothing, as she glared at Izzy. The girl who had publicly humiliated her would pay for it. Máirín would make certain of it. "Come with to Mr Carter's Office. He will need to hear about this." Ms. DuBois said finally

As she turned to follow Ms. DuBois to the Headmaster's Office, Máirín snarled under her breath at Izzy.

"Don't think this is over. I'll get you later!"

To her surprised, Izzy hissed back,

"Midnight tonight. School Yard. We'll settle this there!"

* * *

"Yami...?"

He did not answer for a moment. Instead, he picked up a round bin and began carrying it across the yard to 'The Cage' - a metal grid designed to keep footballs in and injuries out. Well, that was supposed to be the general idea when it was installed.

"Yes," he replied earnestly, glancing up the scowling semitransparent floating form of his hikari. She was not very amused at the current moment in time. Yami smirked.

"Yami, remind me again why are we here?" Izzy grumbled as she watched Yami assemble the five large round bins from around the School grounds in one straight line in 'The Cage'. "...And dare I ask what exactly are you doing?" She gestured at the bins.

"All in due time." Yami said cryptically. Izzy rolled her eyes.

"You are helpful, aren't you?" She commented sarcastically as she watched him put the finishing touchs to whatever it was that he was doing.

"What time is it?" He asked suddenly, looking up at her.

"Ten to twelve," Izzy said checking her watch, "Why?"

"She'll be here in ten minutes." Yami noted as he performed a final check on his equipment

"Who?"

"What's her name - Máirín." Yami paused and added quickly, "Do you trust me?"

"I suppose." Izzy considered, flashing her eyes to the assembled bins to Yami. "Yeah. I do trust you, but why does it matter?"

"It just does." He turned away from his hikari, but as he did so, Izzy moved in front of him - standing inches from his face. He jumped back in surprise.

"If I'm placing my trust in you, then I think I have a right to know what you're trying doing!" She said pointing her finger at him.

"Okay." He said eventually looking directly at her, "It's a Penalty Game. A game of chance and luck where the loser suffers a penalty. Máirín tried to hurt you earlier and I'm not going to let her or anyone else get away that."

She was stunned.

"Oh..."

There was creak in the distance. The pair glanced up in time to see a blur slip through the open green school gates.

Yami and Izzy looked at each other as the sound of footsteps gradually got louder.

"Good luck Yami." Izzy mouthed at him as she began to fade from view.

"It's time teach someone a sharp lesson that she won't ever forget!" Yami chuckled as he watched Izzy disappear. Silently, he slipped into the shadows that bathed 'The Cage' and waited for Máirín to finally appear so they could begin the Game.

* * *

"Have you heard!" The small girl giggled to her friends as they passed the lunchtime. "You know that snobby mean Year 10 girl - Máirín? Well apparently when the caretakers arrived this morning they found her in the school yard. Thomas swore that she was still vomiting as the-" Her voice trailed off as she and her friends left the canteen.

Alyssa raised her eyebrow.

"Well, it's nice to know something's never change," she said as she squinted through her slightly foggy glasses. She removed them and digging out a cloth from a blazer pocket, began cleaning them. "As I was saying," she continued, replacing the now-clean glasses back on her nose and shoving the cloth back in her pocket, "If you want to know if anything interesting has happened, it will be certainty be the gossip of the day."

"Do you think it's true? About Máirín?" Sam said taking a bite from the apple she was holding. "It's just usually these rumours are made-up."

"Normally I would agree with you, but on this occasion," Alyssa pointed out waving her finger at the lone figure who had just entered the canteen, "Ophelia and Máirín come in a pair. Máirín wasn't in registration this morning and didn't show up in drama today - Did she Simon?" He shook his head. "So I think something is most definitely wrong." She paused and added, "What do you think Izz?"

The person in question was staring into space - still wearing the dazed look she had been wearing all week. Izzy just sat there watching something that wasn't there. She was completely unaware of the conversation around her.

Rolling her eyes, Alyssa leant over the table and punched her friend's arm. Izzy yelped,

"Ow!"she protested, rubbing her arm. "What was that for!"

"You were out of it." Alyssa commented, pulling out her bottle.

"Again," Jenny interrupted, as Alyssa had a drink of squash. "You've been like that all week." She paused and looked at Izzy with concern, "Are you sure that you're all right? You do look a little pale."

"Yeah," Izzy said reassuringly, waving away her friend's concern. "I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind, that's all."

"You can tell us, you know." Simon pointed out after the others left to go to the toilet. He glanced at his friend. "You know we won't bite."

Izzy smiled.

"I know." She insisted shoving her lunch box in her bag. "But I 'll tell you in my own time. Okay?"

"Okay," Simon sighed as they began clearing the rubbish into a nearby bin. "I just wish you could trust us."

"I will tell you. I promise." She said softly, touching his arm. "Just not yet."

A/N: Well, there you go. I'm on Summer Holidays now, so an update should be coming soon to a computer near you.


	6. Promises of a Sacrifice

A/N: I apologise for any confusion in the last chapter with the several conversations that were running at the same time. Also, as a note when Yami has control, Izzy is still female, otherwise everyone would catch on and both would be in big trouble.

Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I only own my own characters

Chapter Five - Promises of a Sacrifice

It was lunchtime again and the five of them were standing outside in the Yard. Izzy's friends did not ask her any more question about her strange attitude and she was grateful for that. She needed to get her own head around things before she could tell anybody else, let alone her closest friends.

For starters, they would think she was insane. An ancient spirit living in ancient puzzle was now linked to her mind and who wasn't going to leave anytime soon - Not that she wanted him to leave. He was also the reason resident bully - Máirín was now at home suffering from violent sickness. It was a laughable idea, if you thought about it..

"Cassie!" Alyssa yelled, waving at a younger student who was leaving the science building.

Cassie was Alyssa younger sister and much like her older sister. They had a similar sense of humour and a love of Japan but unlike her sister's wild mass of hair, Cassie had straight brown hair. She was in the same year as Mike - Year 8. Her birthday was in the next week in the Half Term Holiday. It was next Friday if Izzy remembered correctly.

"Hi Cassie," Alyssa said as her sister made her way over to them, "How's your morning been?"

Cassie raised an eyebrow and burst to into giggles. Smiling broadly, she explained,

"Eventful! Paul nearly blew the science lab to smithereens. We've decided that Paul and Potassium and Hydrochloric Acid do not make a good mix, so he's serving detention at the moment," She then added, "It was fun though. I'll be glad to reach tomorrow."

"I'll ask Mike about that later." Izzy chuckled. Mike and Cassie were in the same class.

"So did you watch last night's match?" Alyssa asked, looking at Izzy. She nodded. She had been watching the finals in sort of way. She'd watched it in spirit form while Yami made some much needed adjustments to her deck. The changes must have been effective as Yami then proceeded to kick Mike's butt in a trial run. Thankfully, no Penalty Games were involved this time.

"It was Weevil Underwood who won, wasn't it?" It had been a close match. Weevil Underwood's insects against Rex Raptor's dinosaurs. Rex had power but Weevil had used his insects strategically and had won.

"You have to admit when the creator - Pegasus came out - that was cool!" Cassie commented, "Announcing that tournament like that - What was it called?"

"Duelist Kingdom," Izzy supplied, "He said it was on his island so it must be invitation only."

"Still it would have been nice to have known about it, before hand and while we're on the subject." Alyssa began digging around in her pockets, "I found this leaflet, there's some huge convention on in Highford Park tomorrow." She handed the leaflet over to Izzy.

"Oh?" She mumbled flicking through the green leaflet. It listed opening times, addmision prices and other useful things.

"Yeah." Cassie said sadly taking back the leaflet, "I can't go."

"But I can." Alyssa grinned reclaiming the leaflet from her sister. "Do you two and Mike want to come?"

"I'll come." Simon offered, "I'm not doing anything tomorrow." Izzy also nodded.

"Me too, Mike can't come though. He's all day with his friends."

Alyssa shrugged.

"That's alright." She flicked back through the leaflet. "We can meet tomorrow at 11 am at the park. It should be the biggest convention the city's seen in a long time!"

Izzy wandered along the road that lead to Highford Park. There was a lot of traffic up here. The Convention must have been a lot popular than anyone thought. She shrugged.

It was a crisp Autumn morning and the Sun was shining. The perfect start to the holiday, Izzy noted. It was a Teacher Training Day at School so the pupils had been given an extra day of holiday- not that Izzy was complaining.

She was wearing blue patterned jeans and a light blue long sleeved T-shirt and a dark blue body warmer while her hair was neatly tied back in a pony tail. To complete her outfit, Izzy wore her dark blue baseball cap.

Izzy arrived to see Alyssa and Simon waving at her. She waved back.

"Took ya long enough," Alyssa commented as Izzy drew level with them. "I've been here ages and I had the furthest to walk." Izzy shrugged.

"Good morning you two," she said rolling her eyes. "I'd stuff to sort out." Namely a certain spirit who requested Izzy brought her deck to the convention.

"Like...?" Alyssa coaxed, trying to get an answer from her friend.

"I'll you tell you later but I really do want to go in here." She gestured at the park behind them and smiled, "After all that's why we're here." The pair nodded glumly and the three made their way over to the admissions booth to buy tickets for the gaming convention.

After some exploration, they came across the Duel Monsters section. It was massive. Everywhere you looked there were card stalls. Strategy Guides were selling like hot cakes. Several had been thrown on the floor, forgotten by those who had purchased them. There were even a few of the new duel stadiums obviously for those who wanted friendly matches.

"I need to get some dice," Alyssa eventually declared to her friends who responded by stared at her in disbelief.

"You don't actually play Dungeon Dice Monsters, do you?" Simon asked, looking at her.

"You know I do." She said, rolling her eyes and pulling out a black dice box. "Let's not go through it again. I'll see you in a few moments." She disappeared into the crowd.

Simon and Izzy looked at each other and shrugged. They were just about to move again when an almighty rumble interrupted them.

"Sorry," Simon said sheepishly as he rubbed his belly, "I haven't eaten this morning." And spotting a food counter her added, "Would you mind if I...?" Izzy nodded.

"Sure." she said, gesturing her arm, "Go on. I'll see you in a few moments."

Izzy saw this as an ideal chance to explore on her own. She wanted to have a look at the friendly matches and she had a sneaky suspicion that Yami wanted a look too. She began wandering over to the stadiums, but before she had moved too far someone was storming in her direction. He was muttering under his breath and scowling. It was safe to say he wasn't looking where he was going.

"Owww...!" Izzy yelped as the boy collided into her and the pair of them went flying. Izzy was first to stand up. "Sorry," she offered her hand to the boy, "Are you alright?" He ignored her, standing up on his own.

He was tall- very tall and had brown hair that came to a point behind his collar. He was wearing a dark blue trench-coat. He glared at her through his icy blue eye.

"You should be." He snarled as he picked up his briefcase.

Izzy's temper flared up.

"Excuse me," she said through gritted teeth, "You were the one who wasn't looking where they were going!"

"You don't know who I am, do you?" He snapped back.

"No, I don't, " Izzy tilted her head back slightly and allowed Yami to take over. He lowered his head, staring straight back into the boy's face.

"...But I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway." Yami snarled. The boy smirked and raised his eyebrows,

"I'm Seto Kaiba and you are?"

"My name is Izzy Corbey," Yami growled. They glared at each other for a moment, before Seto broke the silence,

"You still don't know who you're dealing with?" Seto snorted. Yami didn't flinch.

"Show me!"

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

After looking for some much needed dice, Alyssa went back to find her friends. They were not were she'd left them. Alyssa shrugged. They probably went off to explore on their own. She sighed and went off to look for them.

Eventually she found Simon munching a hotdog.

"Didn't take you long to find food, didn't it?" Alyssa said wryly as she watched him take a mouthful. He swallowed and protested,

"Hey, I didn't have any breakfast this morning. This is the first thing I've had." Alyssa rolled her eyes, before getting back to the task at hand.

"Where's Izzy?" She asked, glancing up and down the field searching for the girl in question, "I thought she would be with you."

"Have you heard," Someone interrupted shoving past them. A young lad - a few years older than them was gabbling along to his friend - pushing his way through a gathering crowd on the opposite side of the park. "The World Champion is dueling."

Simon shook his head as they approached the edge of the crowd.

"No," he shouted over the roar of the crowd. "I think she went off to explore and I've a bad feeling about this." Alyssa nodded

"I know what you mean. Hang on. Let's find who's dueling." She touched the arm of the man standing next to her. "Excuse me. Who's dueling the World Champ?"

The man cocked his head slightly,

"A girl," he said eventually, glancing at the both of them, "About your age. She was wearing a blue baseball cap, I think." They exchanged dark looks, "I didn't catch her name though."

"Great!" Alyssa said sarcastically after thanking the man as the pair began to watch the remainder of the Duel, "Why is that we leave her for just ten minutes and we come back to find her dueling the World Champion Duelist."

"Shhhh!" Simon scowled, "I'm trying to watch."

He smirked - confident of his Blue-Eyes White Dragon's chances against the Dark Magician that his opponent had on the field. She had just under 500 life points while he was sitting comfortably on 2500. There was no way she would beat him.

The crowd seemed to agree with his thoughts. No one had ever beaten Seto Kaiba and his legendary Blue-Eyes. It would take someone of immense bravery or stupidity to face this deadly pair and come out alive.

Her Swords of Revealing Light protecting her magician had vanished at the end of his turn. She had nothing left. One attack and both her life points and her monster would be dead and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

"Face it Izzy," Seto shot at his opponent, who seemed to be accepting her inevitable defeat. "There is nothing that you can do. No monster you throw at me can now prevent your defeat."

Yami closed his eyes and inhaled - his mind numbly acknowledging his loss.

/You can do it Yami/ Izzy protested desperately from his mind/I believe in you. You just got to believe in yourself/

His eyes snapped open.

"The odds maybe against me," Yami declared glaring at Kaiba, "But I believe in my cards,"

"What are you prattling on about? Just draw your pathetic next card and let me end this duel!"

"Fine," Yami said, drawing a card from his deck. He smiled. "You know, I really pity you Kaiba."

"Enough!" Seto snarled impatiently - annoyed at the delay. "Get on with it!"

"Very well, I shall." Picking a card from his hand, Yami placed it on the field. "I play Kuriboh in attack mode." A hologram of the small brown monster appeared next to the Dark Magaican.

Seto snorted.

"You going to save yourself with a brown blob?" Kuriboh hissed at Seto in protest.

"Never underestimate the power of anything," Yami shot back. "I'm not done yet." He picked another card from his hand and placed it on the field. "I activate this - Promises of a Sacrifice." The square on the field behind Kuriboh glimmered as the magic card activated. "This card allows me to send one of my monsters to the graveyard," Yami continued, "To destroy one of yours. A sacrifice." He nodded at Kuriboh who squeaked in understanding as a white light shot from the magic card and hit the creature.

Seto stood for a moment, just staring. His mind unable to comprehend what exactly he was being told. By sacrificing one of her monsters, Izzy was going to be able to send any of the monsters on his side of the field to the graveyard. The only monster he had on the field was his Blue-Eyes which meant-

"No!" He yelled defiantly as the white beam of light that had dispatched Kuriboh came charging at his dragon. His cry did nothing as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon shattered into a million pieces.

The crowd were being fickle and had changed allegiance to upstart girl who had dared challenge the World Champion Duelist. The only person to have ever defeated Kaiba's legendary dragon. They were cheering and chanting for the person who had shown it was possible.

"And with that Kaiba," Yami commented as the lad was still registering the loss of his dragon, "You're wide open for a direct attack from my Dark Magician." He waved his arm at Seto and commanded. "Dark Magician - Strip him of the rest of his life points. Dark Magic Attack." Dark Magician's attack did just that as Seto Kaiba's life points dropped to zero. He stood in silence for a moment - his mind numbly acknowledging his humiliation and his loss. He couldn't believe it. He - Seto Kaiba - had been beaten by a girl and to his annoyance she wasn't finished yet.

"You're a great duelist Kaiba, I'll give you that, but that's it." Yami began as he collected up his deck from the playing field, "You don't respect your cards or your opponent. Something you would do well to learn. If you trust in yourself and in yourself, there's no reason why you can't lose."

"Who are you to tell me that?" Seto snarled angrily at the only person who had ever beaten him.

"The person who has brought you crashing back down to reality." And with that he turned on his heel. Camera snapping everywhere as the mysterious girl vanished into the crowd.

One of those photos were taken by Conner Ford - a failing reporter for the on-line gaming magazine - 'Dueling World'. He was having problems at home - his wife threatening to throw him out of the house and he was late with this month's article. His editor was not happy with him but his luck was about to change.

As soon as he took that photo of Izzy Corbey, he knew he had a big story and he was not going to pass it by. Unlike many people, Conner had actually heard the name of the mysterious youth who had beaten the World Champion. Smiling, he published his article on to the web-zine with the comfortable knowledge that a big bonus was coming his way.

The Internet is a powerful tool. It can display almost anything and can be read by almost anyone in the world.

Splashed on the Internet, the article in question flew around the computer networks of the globe several times, before it came under the examination of one man - Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters.

"Can it be?" He mused, sipping his glass of red wine, "Can it really be that my dear Kaiba-boy has finally been defeated," He paused again, reading the rest of the article, "And by a young lady, no less. My, my, my, it appears Kaiba-boy is losing his touch."

He returned to the photo at the top of the article as a door opened quietly behind him. One thing catching his eye - the golden item the girl wore around her neck. Subconsciously, Pegasus put a hand to his left eye.

"Interesting," he muttered as the security guard who had been standing at the door for several moments cleared his throat.

"Sir," he said hesitantly. His employer swivelled in his chair. "We have distributed the invitations to the tournament. Everything else is almost ready. Is there anything else, sir?"

"There is one more thing, Croquet," Pegasus said standing up. "We have one more guest who will require an invitation." Croquet nodded and took his departure from his employer. Pegasus turned back to the screen. "I think I'll send her a personal invitation."

She sat on the top branches of the tree- just thinking. That had been unbelievable. It had all been unbelievable to be truthful. She was supposed to be a normal 14 year old girl and yet she'd just seen things that surely should only exist in her wildest imagination.

Yami had challenged Seto Kaiba - the Dueling World Champion to a duel and won. Now, she had to content with the Press, the media and not to mention her friends which was why she was currently sitting in the top branches of the oak tree.

Izzy must have been sitting up there for a good few hours watching all the hullabaloo the Duel had caused. It was quite amusing really seeing all the gamers and journalists milling around trying to find out who the mysterious girl who had beaten Seto Kaiba at his own game.

And, speaking of Kaiba, he had stalked away after Yami lectured him about the 'The Heart of the Cards' as he dubbed it. It was funny seeing the World Champion being lectured at by virtual nobody.

/You do realise that this isn't the last we've heard of Kaiba/ Yami commented as he floated next to her on the branch. Izzy raised an eyebrow.

/Yeah and who's fault is that/ She pointed out. Yami was silent. /Well.../

/Kaiba challenged you to a duel and he lost/

/What do ya mean... challenged me/ She screeched at him. /You're the one who kicked his butt to Kingdom Come. NOT... ME/ Izzy stressed the last two words. Yami waited patiently for her to finish, then he added

/True/ He nodded/But you believed I could do-/ Yami was cut short by a yell from beneath them at the base of the tree.

"You gonna stay up there all all day or are you gonna come down!" Izzy and Yami glanced down to see Simon and Alyssa staring up at her.

/Looks like you have some explaining to do/ Yami grinned as he disappeared back into the Puzzle. /Good Luck/

/Wait a moment/ She yelped, as her friends stared up at her peculiar antics in the tree. /Yami! Get back here/

Izzy promptly fell out the oak tree and landed with a thump next to her friends. She rolled over and saw them staring at her. She stood up and smiled at them,

"Anyone want pizza? I'm hungry." Alyssa and Simon continued to stare at her. "What...?"

"How did you do that?" Simon demanded eventually. Izzy rolled her eyes and tapped the tree.

"Climbed it!"

Alyssa sighed in exasperation.

"No," she said flatly gesturing at the remnants of the convention. "How on earth did you beat - let alone find and duel Seto Kaiba?"

Biting her lip, Izzy began mumbling,

"I... mmm... I...ahh..."

/You're gonna have to tell them at some point/ Yami pointed out from the back of her mind. Izzy blinked and returned to world of the present.

"Daydreaming again," Simon commented tapping Izzy on the forehead - making her go cross-eyed. She blinked again.

"Tell you what?" She began, glancing at her watch. "I... still want pizza." Her friends promptly fell over.

"You aren't going to tell us, are you?" Simon noted dryly, recovering quickest.

"Nope," Izzy said cheerfully as she lead the way out of the park and towards that long awaited pizza.

A/n: Kaiba's back! I told you he would be. This was my first attempt at a Duel and I hope you liked it.


	7. A Nightmarish Reality

A/N: Right! I going away for couple of days and I want to get this posted before I go.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh. I only own my own characters

Chapter Six – A Nightmarish Reality

Everything was peaceful and quiet in Izzy's bedroom. The Sun was beginning to burst through her blinds, but she still slept. She gently turned in her dreams, blissfully unaware of anything that was happening around her and as she did so, she rolled out of bed. She landed with a thump on the floor.

Izzy sat up, groaning amongst her duvet cover.

"I never want to do that again?" She said tiredly, putting her head back down.

"It was funny though," someone chuckled from the end of her bed. Izzy sat up again, blinking.

"What the..." she said eventually, rolling her eyes, "I might have know it was you."

Yami smirked.

"Who else would it be?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. Izzy threw her pillow at him. Yami ducked instinctively, but he needn't have bothered. As he was in spirit-form, the pillow would have gone straight through him- causing him no harm what so ever. "Hey," he protested, throwing up his arms defensively. "There was no need for that!"

"You were being evil," Izzy grumbled as she stood up to face him. "Would you mind moving?" She asked, picking up her duvet. "I wanna reassemble my bed." Yami obliged, floating over to the other side of the room while Izzy repaired her bed.

With that task finished, she began fishing around in her wardrobe for some clothes. Eventually pulling out some jeans and a t-shirt, she turned around to face her darker half.

"Can you go in the Puzzle for a few moments Yami. I want to change."

He noddded. She may now be sharing a body with him, but Izzy still needed some privacy from him.

"Sure," he mumbled, "I'll talk to you in a moment." And with that Yami disappeared from sight and Izzy could get dressed.

Few moments later, Izzy was finished and was standing in front of her mirror, brushing her hair back into a ponytail.

/Izzy.../ She blinked. /Anything planned for today/ Yami interrupted throught the mind-link.

/Yami, you can come back out./ She pointed out as he rematerialised in front of her.

"So have we got any plans for today?" He renewed his earlier question.

"Well," Izzy considered, finishing her hair. "It's Sunday so we're going to Church and after that is pretty much up to y-" She stop abruptly as she saw the curious looks that Yami was giving her.

"What is this Church of which you speak?" He asked curiously. Izzy stared at the floor. "Well..?" He said, trying to prompt an answer.

"It's... ahhhhhh..." She bit he lower lip. It was going to be slightly complicated trying to explain this concept. "I think the best thing to do is to just wait and see." Izzy answered eventually, glancing down at her watch. "And anyway, I going down for some Breakfast." Izzy glanced across at Yami, "Do you want anything?"

And so a short time after she had rolled out of bed, Izzy made an appearance in the kitchen.

"Good Morning," Izzy grinned as she barralled into the kitchen. Her brother and mother glanced up from where they were eating breakfast.

* * *

"Morning Izzy," Mum smiled as Izzy placed some bread in the toaster and spun around to face them, "Did you have a good night's sleep?" 

"We heard you fall out of bed." Mike smirked as he spooned a mouthful of cereal into his mouth. "It sounded quite painful."

"It was," Izzy nodded, reaching for a bowl and a cereal box. "Believe me, I'm not intending to do it again."

"I'll hold you to that tomorrow," he said, grinning at her. "Hang on," he asked curiously as the toast popped and his sister began buttering it, "I didn't think you had both cereal and toast." Izzy shrugged.

"I'm hungry." She lied. She was only having the cereal. The toast was for Yami. She didn't exactly want her dark-half to starve to death.

"Oh," her mother interrupted, suddenly remembering something, "Izzy, a second parcel came for you this morning. Special Delivery." She placed the brown package on the breakfast table.

"You're getting incredibly popular recently," Mike commented wryly as his sister poked it. "You had the parcel last week, now this one."

/Izzy.../ Yami interrupted suddenly, his voice full of concern.

/Yeah.../ she answered distractedly.

/I have bad feeling about this./ He paused briefly, then added/ Just be careful./ Izzy nodded, retrieving a pair of scissors from a nearby cupboard and she began cutting at the brown tape as guitar music began driffed down from upstairs.

Dad was up there - practising for this morning's service. He played his guitar occasionally in the services but today he was going to lead this morning's service with the minister.

Humming along to the music, Izzy eventually ripped open the box.and peered inside. Mike and Mum coming over to have a look too.

Izzy blinked. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. She couldn't believe what she was seeing in the box. On the outside, it had looked quite ordinary, but inside it was something else.

It was a purple fingerless glove with a chunky silver band at the rim. It had ten small star-shaped holes in a circle on the band. Izzy looked at it curiously, before passing it to her brother for his examination.

"Any idea what this thing is?" Mike asked curiously, placing the glove back in the box.

"No idea," Izzy said, shaking her head. She glanced at the rest of the items in the box. There were two small yellow chips that clearly fitted the glove - which she slotted into place knowing that she would lose them otherwise and two cards. Two cards that both she and her brother recognised as Duel Monsters - if not Duel Monsters exactly. The first card was a picture of mountain of gold and treasure and the second card was just blank. At the bottom of everything else was a single envelope and a video cassette.

She opened the envelope and two things fell out - something that looked very much like an offical letter and a return plane ticket to Japan.

"What the...?" Mike shot, passing the plane ticket to his mother to have a look as Izzy unfolded the letter.

"It's from Industrial Illusions," Izzy muttered as she scanned the letter. She raised her head, "It's from Maximillion Pegasus, himself. He wants me to join his tournament at Duelist Kingdom."

" I think that's wonderful!" Mum smiled as she hugged Izzy. "I'm so proud of you and- " Her voice trailed off into a distant murmer as she released her daughter.

Izzy continued to stare at the package for a few moments before she contacted her darker half.

/Yami.../

He didn't answer.

She tried again.

/Yami.../

/Yes/ he replied eventually, materialising in front of her.

/What do you think.../ She paused briefly glancing up at him, before she continued/About the tournament/

/It's interesting/ Yami commented, nodding at the letter in her hand. /Are we going/

/Maybe, but only if you want to./

/We could./ He shrugged - but Izzy noticed the hopeful tone to his voice. She smiled.

"The letter said that I need to play the video," Izzy pointed out as Yami faded away into the Puzzle. She turned to her mother and Mike, "So I'm gonna go and play it." She picked up the video and added. "You coming Mike?"

He shrugged and nodded,

"Sure."

Mike followed his sister into the lounge and sat down on the sofa as Izzy slid the video into the player. Izzy grabbed the remote and sat down next to her brother.

"Ready?" she asked, holding the remote control in the air. Mike nodded and she pressed down on the play button.

The screen flickered into life bringing with it a strange figure. He had long grey hair that covered his left eye. His remaining eye was dark brown - sparkling with a mixture of greed and determination and he was wearing a red suit suit with a white frilly collor. Mike and Izzy recognised whom it was instantly - Maximillion Pegasus.

"Greetings Isabella. I've heard so much about you." He declared, waving his arm at her. Izzy scowled - nobody called her Isabella. She didn't like this guy. "It's so nice to finally meet the girl who put Seto Kaiba in his place." The screen-image continued. "I must congratulate you. Nobody else has ever beaten Kaiba-boy before." He looked straight at Izzy. It was if he could see actually see her.

"Izzy," Mike whispered quietly, "Can you turn it off? It's starting to freak me out." Izzy nodded, reaching for the stop button. As she touched the button, someone interrupted

"I wouldn't do that if that if I were you." The onscreen figure waved a finger at her. "If you want you want your brother back to normal, then I suggest you listen to me."

It was true. She tried waving her hand in front of Mike. No response. She tried shoving his shoulder. Still nothing. She tried again. Nothing. He was frozen in time.

Angrily, she rounded on the screen, but deep down she knew it was useless. It was only a video.

"What have you done to him?" She yelled desperately, knowing there would be no answer from the screen. To her surprise and horror, the screen answered back.

"I have merely brought you to another demension to prevent any interruption." Pegasus shrugged wavng away Izzy's horrifed expression, "I want to talk to you and I don't want to be interrupted."

"What...?" she gasped, then she spat, "Where am I?"

"The Shadow Realm, Isabella." Pegasus explained with a roll of his eye. "I'm sure the spirit of the Puzzle would have explained, if he'd only had more time."

Izzy's mouth dropped.

"How do you know about Yami?" She demanded, glaring at Pegasus.

"The Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle?" He laughed. Recovering slightly, he raised the hair that was covering his left eye - where his left eye would have been. Izzy shivered as she saw the solid gold eye that stared back at her. It was an exact replica of the symbol on the front of the Puzzle."Do you honestly believe you're the only one who possessed such an item?" Pegasus waved his spare arm at Izzy. "The item around your neck is one of seven magical items called Millennium Items. Your Items is the Milliennium Puzzle. He tapped the golden eye "This is the Millennium Eye and I am fully aware that the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle is listening to this conversation."

Yami scowled from inside the 'Milliennium Puzzle'.

"You can read my mind?" Izzy asked uncertainly, glaring at Pegasus.

"Oh, yes," He nodded, "And that's not all, for you see I want you to participate to my tournament." A beam of light shot from the centre of the the Millennium Eye and streaked passed Izzy. As she glanced over her shoulder, the beam found it's target- Mike. "Therefore I'm taking something of extreme value to you."

"Mike." She whispered as his image flickered where Pegasus had been only a few moments ago. In horror she watched as he held out both his hands to his sister, his soul crying out silently for help that his sister couldn't give him. "Mike!" Izzy screamed again. "Pegasus, you monster! What have you done?"

"Be assured your brother is save - for now, but if you ever want to see your beloved brother again," Pegasus continued his voice floating back to her from wherever he was, "You'll be on the boat to Duelist Kingdom on Tuesday morning. Defeat me at Duelist Kingdom and I'll give you his soul back. Till then, Isabella." Pegasus voice trailed off as the black swiling world eventually gave way to normal reality.

Izzy sank to her knees. Her mind stubbornly refusing to acknowledge it. It was not real. It couldn't be.

Shaking, she stood up and turned around slowly.

"Mum!" She shrieked as she saw the life-less form of her brother on the sofa. His blond head just flopping to the side. His brown eyes closed. "Dad!" Izzy screamed desperately as tears began trickling down her face.

* * *

Izzy watched the clock on the white corridor wall move with agonising slowness. Each small movement of the second hand felt like a dagger piercing her stomach as the doctors were trying everything to find out what was wrong with Mike. 

Her dad was pacing up and down the corridor- glancing up at the clock every two minutes while Mum who was sat in the chair next to Izzy was nearly in tears.

Izzy could not look at her parents in this state. The feeling of guilt was too strong. Her parents would never understand. Instead, she stared down at the floor and the Millennium Puzzle around her neck.

Eventually the door opposite opened and a doctor stepped through into the corridor. "Mr and Mrs Corbey," He said, addressing Izzy's parents. "I'm afraid I've got some good news concerning your son and some bad news."

Izzy stared at the floor - she knew what was coming.

* * *

"Simon...?" 

"Yeah," he answered, glancing around at the clock on the wall behind them. "What's wrong?"

"It's twenty-five past ten and Izzy's still not here. The service starts at half past 10." Alyssa muttered darkly, so that the rest of their talkative friends would not overhear. They didn't. "Something is definitely wrong. Izzy is never late for Church."

This was the place were Alyssa and Izzy had met all those years ago. Alyssa had been attending Moreton Baptist Church since her birth likewise had her younger sister - Cassie. Similarly, Izzy had been coming to Church all her life, moving to Moreton just after her baby brother Mike had been born. Simon had only been coming for a few years, but it felt like he has always been there. They were a close-knit bunch.

"I think you might be right," Cassie noted quietly, turning in her seat. "Izzy's parents haven't come yet... and her dad's leading part of the service. They're usually here well before us."

The situation appeared to be picked up by the Elders and Decons of the Church. They were running up and down the aisle and into the Vestry- conferring with the minster and with each other. It was clear that they had no idea what was going on.

"Have you got any idea what's wrong with Izz?" Alyssa whispered to Simon, glancing briefly at her sister. "I mean she's started acting strange- in a weird way." Simon nodded.

"I know what you mean," he muttered, glancing back at Cassie. "You weren't the convention on Friday, Cassie, but Izzy was acting so weird."

"We only disappeared for about ten minutes and she there she was dueling Seto Kaiba." Alyssa pointed out to her younger sister.

"That's not it." Simon hissed, "While she was dueling did you hear that edge to her voice, "Alyssa shivered and nodded, "In all the years I've known her, I've never heard Izzy like that?"

"I think she's been distancing herself from us." Alyssa added. "Izzy won't tell us anything. It's like she become a completly different person that we don't know anything about anymore."

"She's not the only one, Alyssa." Cassie commented quietly as the comings and goings from the Vestry ceased.. "You've been distant recently." She opened her mouth to protest, but her sister plowed on. "More so than usual."

Simon put his head in his hands and a gave sigh of exasperation.

"No!" He murmered through gritted teeth as the Church leaders returned to the congregation. They didn't look too happy- a few were close to tears. "I can only cope with one mystery at a time."

Up at the lectern, the Minister cleared his throat and the chatty congregation quietened down.

"This morning's service would have been led jointly by David Corbey and myself, but-" He paused slightly. Alyssa, Simon and Cassie exchanged looks with each other. "We've just received a phone call from David. I'm sorry to say that David and his family are now at Birmingham Hospital. This morning, Mike came down with something that the doctors at the Hospital nor his family can explain..."

* * *

She stood by the bed just staring at the unconcious form of her brother. She tried to cry, but no more tears would fall down her face. She had none left to shed. 

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe how much things had changed in the past week and everything was her fault. If she hadn't gone to that convention. If she'd not argued with Kaiba. If she hadn't played that video tape, then Mike would still be here. It just wasn't fair.

Izzy clasped her brother's hand. It was cold and clammy. She could just feel his faint pulse slowly forcing blood around his body - keeping him alive but only just and it nearly broke her heart. She may never hear her brother's voice again. The doctors said that Mike may never open his eyes again.

With her spare hand, Izzy wiped away the nonexistent tears and as she did so, she felt a shadowy hand rest on her shoulder. Blinking slightly, she turned to see Yami giving her a small reassuring smile.

They stood there for a few moments in silence watching Mike; neither Izzy or Yami said a word to the other. That silence was more comforting than any words they could have exchanged.

Eventaully Yami broke the silence,

/How is he/

/Alive/ Izzy sobbed, not glancing up from her brother's bed. /But only just. The doctors can't explain anything. Everything's functioning as it should. It's just his-/ Fresh tears began trickling down her face as Izzy turned to face Yami. /My parents- look at them/ She nodded at her parents out in the corridor with the doctors. /How can I explain? How can I explain any of it to them? They would never understand. I... I just can't do it./

/Izzy. Listen to me/ Yami said firmly, looking his red-eyed hikari in the eye and wrapping a shadowy hand around her spare one. /You are not alone. You never are. I'm with you and I'll always be with you! While we're at Duelist Kingdom I promise to you I will do everything in my power to get Mike's soul back. We'll beat Pegasus together and get your brother's soul back. That's a promise/

Blinking back her tears, Izzy smiled slightly.

/Thank you./ she mouthed silently at her darker half. /Thank you Yami. / He smiled back at her.

/One more thing/ Yami added, releasing her hand. /You need to tell your friends. It's not good to keep things bottled up inside. Somethings are better if you tell someone./ Izzy nodded and releasing her brother's hand, she wiped away the remainder of her tears. She gently placed a kiss on Mike's forehead and whispered,

"We'll get your soul back Mike, I promise." With that Izzy walked over to the ward door, Yami floating along behind her.

Once the pair were in an empty corridor, Izzy began digging in a pocket and removed her mobile phone. Hestitantly, she pushed several buttons and raised it to her ear. It rang.

After a few moments of agonising silence, someone answered.

"Simon...?" She asked, glancing at Yami floating at her side. "Do you still want to know what's going on?"

* * *

He trudged through the park, kicking the dried leaves out of his path. The wind was starting to picking up and it was starting to drizzle as he slowly made his way over to the oak tree. 

It was quiet here. There were not many people around - only a middle-aged couple on an afternoon stroll and a young student walking his dog. Most people had more sense than to be out in dinghy weather like this.

Simon sighed. This was important. Izzy had something she needed to tell him. She had sounded like she had just been crying and he was positive that it had something to do with her brother.

Alyssa and Cassie waved at him from the bottom of the tree. Izzy had asked him to call them too and get them to come with him. She said she needed to talk them as well.

Simon gave a nod of greeting as he drew level with the Trent sisters and then the three began waiting for the last person they were waiting for to turn up.

After a short while, she appeared and began walking towards her friends. From a distance, Izzy looked miserable but closer she looked terrible. Her eyes were red and sore, evidently from recent crying.

"Hi,"Alyssa said eventually, after a few moments of awkward silence. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Izzy muttered quietly, not looking up at her friend. "But it's Mike. Not me."

"We heard," Simon nodded, "How is he?" He asked, glancing at Izzy.

"Alive," she whispered, looking at her friends properly for the first time. "Mum's staying at the hospital with him. The doctors can't explain it," Izzy paused and added determinedly, "But I can."

They stared at her.

"What...?" Cassie blinked - exchanging looks with Alyssa and Simon. "If the doctors can't explain it, then how can you?"

"I know," Izzy muttered quietly, glancing up at the stormy sky. "Because the person responsible for it told me. Remember last Wednesday, I said I would explain what was going on so I'm telling you now." She tapped the side of the Puzzle and continued, "This is the Milliennium Puzzle." Izzy paused as she watched her friends reactions. She was sure that Alyssa's eyes widen in recognition for a brief moment, before she blinked, removing the guesture from her face. "It arrived last week and since I solved it everything has gone above and beyond crazy. A second parcel arrived from Maximillion Pegasus this morning."

"You mean the Maximillion Pegasus!" Cassie echoed incredulously.

"Yes," Izzy nodded gravely, "He sent invitation to his Duelist Kingdom Tournament. He stole Mike's soul to make sure I come and I want it back. It's that simple! I'm going to Duelist Kingdom and I wanted to tell you that I'm flying out on Tuesday morning." She concluded with a sigh.

"Are you sure that-" Simon began, removing his hands from his coat pocket. He sighed heavily, "What I mean is are you going-"

Alyssa gave Simon a sharp kick in the shins. He yelped in pain.

"What he means is we'll come and keep you company at the airport." Izzy and Cassie stared at her while Simon rubbed his shin. He glared at her.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Are you okay, Simon?" Izzy shot, offering her hand for support as he stood up.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he grumbled, still glaring at Alyssa.

"Anyway, are you guys sure about coming down to the airport?" Izzy asked eventually, glancing at Alyssa.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Alyssa dismissed, ignoring Simon's glares. "Hey, what are friends for?" She pointed to the darkening sky and grinned at them, "It looks like it's gonna rain, I think we should get moving home."

The others nodded and began to make a move. But as the others turned to go their separate ways, they did not see the small smirk that flickered for the briefest of moments on her face.

A:N: There ya go! Now go and review!


	8. Operation Stowaway

A/N: Whoo! I finish it! It's the longest chapter that I have ever written. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh or Harry Potter. I only own my own characters.

_Italics - Speaking Japanese_

Chapter Seven - Operation Stowaway

It was still raining. It hadn't stopped since Sunday and it showed no sign of giving up. The mood inside the car was just as grim. Izzy and her father sat in silence as the car screeched along the wet motorway to the main airport.

As she watched the windscreen wiper slosh the rainwater out of view, Izzy wished her own troubles would disappear as just as easily. But she knew it would never happen. She was going to have to fight her troubles herself and she knew exactly where to start.

Maximillion Pegasus' tournament- Duelist Kingdom started tomorrow on his Island and Izzy was going to be there. She was going to fight. She was going to win. She was going to reclaim that which Pegasus had stolen - her brother's soul.

"Izzy," her dad interrupted suddenly, bringing her back to reality. She blinked. "Are you going to be okay?"

She gave him a small smile. Dad had a meeting later so he was giving her a lift to the airport.

"Yeah," she smiled, though it was far from what she was truly feeling. "Yeah," Izzy repeated again. "I'm gonna be fine, Dad."

Slightly satisfied, her father returned his attention to the road as the motorway gave way to a junction that led to the airport.

"You know your mother and I are proud of you," he said eventually, glancing across at her. "We always will be." Izzy smiled again- genuinely this time.

The car skidded to a halt a few metres away from the main foyer door. Izzy sat for a moment before taking a deep breath and reaching for her bag.

"Wait!" Dad instructed, holding her arm while he reached into his shirt pocket, "Take this." He removed a golden necklace and placed into her open hand.

She looked at the golden locket in her hand and traced her fingers over the patterned design on the front. This was the locket Mum always wore. This was the locket that had photos of both Izzy and Mike.

"Think of it as if Mike is looking after you," Dad offered as an explanation. "As your mother and I know you would look after him."

Izzy fastened it around her neck, just letting it settle onto of her other necklace.

"Will you call me if Mike changes?" She whispered quietly, glancing across at him.

Her father nodded.

"I promise." He leant over to kiss her check. "Just go and have some fun!"

Izzy smiled at him.

"Thanks Dad" She reached for the door handle and opened the car-door. "I'll see you on Saturday. I love you."

The rain was starting to ease as Izzy closed the door and made a run for the main airport doors where she knew Alyssa, Cassie and Simon where waiting for her. Behind her the red car slowly glided away.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Simon asked, sitting down in the chair next to her. He offered his bottle. "Do you need a drink?"

Izzy smiled gratefully at him and making sure her bookmark was in place, she closed the large book she had previously been reading. She took the green bottle he offered and had a drink.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Simon repeated his question as she gave his drink bottle back. "It's just that you look like you're going to be sick and faint at any moment." He grinned at her. "Don't you like flying?"

Izzy smiled back at him but shook her head.

"No, I'm okay on planes," The smile slowly faded from her face as she continued. "It's what happens next that I'm scared of."

"The tournament?" Izzy nodded.

"Yeah," she whispered as she ran her hand through her hair. "Stupid, I know." Izzy glanced up at him. "But I'm afraid. I'm terrified that I might lose my only chance to save Mike."

* * *

She blinked. Izzy found herself suddenly standing in a room with black swirling walls that seemed to give the illusion of eternity and standing a few yards away was Yami.

"Izzy. Is that true?' he demanded as concern began twitching across his face. He watched as Izzy slowly nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?" Yami added, reaching out to touch her arm.

"I do trust you," Izzy said, answering his unasked question. "It's just that I seem to remember you saying that you could read my mind," she commented wryly, glancing across at him.

She was slightly surprised when he did not give her an answer for several moments.

"Well... yes," he answered eventually, stepping away from her. "But I thought you might want some privacy from me, I mean..."

Izzy smiled slightly. She understood what he meant.

"I appreciate it Yami, I really do," she sighed deeply, "But I'm scared that if we do go and win this, Pegasus will still keep Mike's soul."

Yami nodded gravely.

"I understand, but worrying about it will not help."

"I know."

* * *

She blinked again.

It was reasonably quiet in the airport. There were not many people around which was surprising seeing it was the middle of the October holidays. Normally, this place would be packed this earlier on a Tuesday morning, but today it was much quieter.

"Where did Cassie and Alyssa go anyway?" Izzy asked Simon eventually as she glanced up and down the departure lounge for the two in question.

The pair had wandered off some time ago, twenty minutes last time Izzy checked her watch and they still hadn't come back yet.

"I don't know," Simon shrugged, looking at his own watch. "Alyssa said something about going to find the toilets and getting some food. I think Cassie went with her."

"Even so," Izzy sighed, opening her book again, "It shouldn't take that long to find the toilets and some food." She paused and added, "Don't you think they were acting a little bit weird earlier?'

"I didn't notice anything unusual about them." Simon dismissed as he had a drink from his bottle. "I think you're being paranoid."

"They're up to something." Izzy continued regardless, glancing up temporally from her book.

Simon rolled his eyes.

"That's the paranoia talking Izzy. You need to calm down." He nodded behind them. "Look, here they come."

Izzy looked over to where Simon was indicating and saw to her relief both Alyssa and Cassie were walking towards them, happily munching a slice of pepperoni pizza. There was nothing for her to worry about.

"You aren't reading that, are you?" Alyssa gulped, finishing the last of her pizza as she and her sister drew level with Simon and Izzy.

Izzy stuck her finger in the page she was currently reading and closed the book.

"It's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. What's wrong with that?" She asked curiously, glancing at her friend.

"Nothing," Alyssa said, waving away her question, "It's just that I would read something more like this," She pulled a book from her bag and waved in front of Izzy. "Isaac Asimov - 'I Robot'. This is real s-"

She was cut-short by an overhead speaker that suddenly crackled into life.

"Flight 753J to Domino City, Japan now boarding. Repeat, Flight 753J to Domino City, Japan is now boarding."

Izzy turned a slightly whiter shade of pink as the announcement echoed away. Alyssa quickly shoved 'I Robot' back in her bag, while Cassie ate the last of her pizza.

"This is it," Izzy whispered quietly, glancing at her friends as her face returned to her normal colour. "This is it." She began stuffing her own book in her bag.

"You all set?" Alyssa asked Izzy as they stood up and began walking over to the gate. They stopped a few metres away from it. "You got your Plane ticket?"

Izzy waved it and nodded.

"Passport?" Simon continued as that to was waved at them.

"Duelist Gauntlet?"

She nodded again.

"Deck?" Another nod.

Izzy swung her bag on her back and turned back around to face her friends, clutching her passport and plane ticket.

"You guys are the best." Simon, Cassie and Alyssa were awesome. They didn't have to be here to see her off, but here they were. They were indeed some of the greatest friends a girl could ever hope for. She smiled at them. "I really am going to miss you."

Simon leant over to hug Izzy.

"Good luck," he muttered as he pulled away.

"Yeah." Cassie added as she to was hugged by Izzy, "What he said!"

"Just go out there and kick Pegasus' butt, will ya?" Alyssa demanded as she stepped back to where her sister and Simon where standing after receiving a hug from Izzy.

Izzy smiled.

"I'll try-"

"No, you jolly well won't," Alyssa overwrote her friend, "You will beat Pegasus. No argument about it!"

Izzy grinned at her and with a last smile for her friends, she walked over to the gate.

"I'll see you when I get back." She called over her shoulder as she passed the boarding gate.

But as soon as she was out of earshot, however, Alyssa turned to the other pair and raised her eyebrows.

"I safely think it's time to initiate Stage Two!"

* * *

Izzy could feel the aeroplane rumbling beneath her feet as it began the slow journey down the runway. She could hear the mighty roar of the engines as the plane took off. She could see the ground slowly shrinking from view as they left the ground below.

Sighing, she sank into her seat.

"I wonder if there is any good in-flight movies on this thing," someone said cheerfully from behind her.

She almost jumped out of her seat.

"Alyssa!" Izzy yelped as she saw her friend grinning through the gap in the seats. "What are you doing?" She demanded as she realised it was who Simon was sitting in the seat next to her.

"Coming with you, what else?" Alyssa grinned.

"But you can't..." Izzy argued as Cassie shook her head

"We brought some tickets while Simon kept you preoccupied." Izzy glared at him. He simply shrugged his shoulders

"What about your parents?" Izzy asked desperately, "Do they know what you're doing?"

"Oh yeah," Simon nodded, "We told them that you invited us to come with you."

"But I never-" Izzy began.

"You shouldn't have told us about Pegasus." He interrupted, brushing her protests aside.

"You can't come with me though," Izzy tried again, "It's too dangerous. You'll be putting yourselves in danger."

"We can't go back anyway," Cassie pointed out the small plane window at the speeding clouds, "If you haven't noticed, we're 3,000 feet in the air and still climbing."

"And besides," Alyssa dismissing Izzy's arguments with a wave of her hand. "You're going to Japan! That's our ancestral home."

"...Ish." Cassie interrupted from behind.

Izzy could see Alyssa shrugging her shoulders through the gap before she continued,

"Do you really think we're going to miss out on something like that?"

Simon pulled out some headphones and plugged himself in to the in-flight entertainment.

"Face it, Izzy," he pointed out, "We're coming with you whether you like it or not!"

"But-" she protested weakly. It was useless. There was no way that they weren't going to listen to her. /Don't they understand how dangerous this could be/ Izzy cried, almost hysterically.

/I think they do/ Yami nodded from the depths of the Puzzle. /Have a little faith in them./

Sighing resignedly, Izzy return to her novel.

**

* * *

****She glanced around her. A cold breeze blew gently across her face and dried leaves crackled like dust beneath her feet as she walked slowly through the forest. The Sun seemed to have barely risen, but Izzy could still feel something sinister in the air. **

**A triumphal laugh rang through the tight Autumn air. A cold malicious laugh. It chilled Izzy to the bone. She shivered and looked to the sky, and her eyes flashing towards a castle from where the sound echoed. **

**The tense morning air was shattered by an ear-piercing shriek. Izzy shot forwards, racing through the trees. Someone was in trouble. As she ran, the shrieks changed to heart-shattering sobs.**

**"Hold on," she whispered, "Hold on."**

**Then just as suddenly as they started, the sobs stopped. Everything became deathly silent. Even the birds stopped singing. Izzy froze in her tracks. Her heart thumping violently against her chest. **

_"_**No," she muttered as she sank to her knees. She screamed, "No!"**

"No!" Izzy yelled as she jerked forwards.

She sat back in her chair, breathing heavily as she tried to regain her breath. She ran her hand through her hair as her nightmare began to fade away.

"Izzy, are you okay?"Simon asked, touching her arm.

She nodded.

"Yeah, it was only a nightmare," She glanced at her watch. "How long was I asleep?"

"It must have been what eight or nine hours," Simon sighed, stretching his fingers. "The captain has just announced that we're about to descend."

A few moments later, the plane had landed with slight bump and glided along the runway before eventually grinding to a halt.

"Well that was fun," Alyssa commented grinning, poking her head over the top of the seat as other passengers began filing passed.

"I've had better flights," Izzy groaned as she stretched her arms.

"It's all right for you," Cassie said grumpily joining her sister over the top. "I hardly slept. Alyssa was playing her rock music- very loudly."

"Was I-?" Alyssa asked innocently, glancing at Simon and at Izzy. They just shrugged.

"Yes," came the disgruntled reply from Cassie.

Izzy rolled her eyes at the two arguing sisters.

"Come on you two," Izzy said, retrieving her bag from the overhead compartment and slinking it over her shoulder. "The tournament starts soon."

They all followed her through the excited crowds into the Domino Airport, the Trent sisters still arguing amongst themselves.

* * *

On the streets of Domino City, Izzy stopped and began rooting about in her bag for something- her Dueling Gauntlet. She placed it on her right hand and flexed her fingers. Her star chips glinting in the sunlight as she turned to her friends turned to them.

"Are you guys still sure that you're gonna come with me? It's going to be dangerous." She sighed " I can't promise that you will be safe. If you don't want to come, I won't make you."

They promptly fell over.

"We're friends, Izzy and nothing is going to change that," Simon said recovering first. He put out his hand out in front of her, "We're with you until the bitter end!"

"Nothing's going to stop us." Cassie chimed happily as she placing her hand on top of Simon's.

"We are in this together!" Alyssa added, adding her hand to the pile.

They looked expectantly at her,

Izzy stared for a moment at her friends who were all smiling encouragement at her and with a smile of her own.

"We can do this." She nodded, placing her gloved hand on the others.

And to her immediate surprise, no sooner had her hand settled a fifth hand appeared on top of her own.

She looked up, blinking to see Yami nodding reassuringly at her.

/All of us/ he added, finally. Izzy grinned. They were ready.

They rounded the corner to the Domino pier and Cassie face dropped like a stone.

"No," Cassie yelled at the others as the four made their way over across the pier. "No-one said anything about a boat!" She jabbed her finger at the white cruise ship where a huge number of Duelist were congregating. Each and everyone of them with a Gauntlet like Izzy's. "There was no mention of the boat."

"Cassie, the whole tournament takes place on a Island." Alyssa pointed out, flicking her younger sister's head. "Remember?"

"But you know I hate boats," Cassie said miserably, glaring at her.

"What's more important, huh?" Alyssa raised her eyebrows. "Your fear of boats or getting Mike's soul back?"

"Mike," Cassie muttered grudgingly as her sister slapped her arm

"Precisely!" Alyssa grinned.

"Hey look," Simon interrupted suddenly, pointing at the crowd. "Isn't that Weevil Underwood?" They followed his finger to where he was pointing to a short lad with lime green hair and rather large green spectacles.

Alyssa self consciously touched her own glasses.

"And I thought my glasses were bad," she mumbled as Cassie caught sight of someone else.

"There's Rex Raptor." She said, nodding at another lad wearing a red beanie. "It's looks like all the top duelists must be here."

Simon cocked his eyebrows slightly.

"The top duelists, you say," he asked curiously, "So, then Kaiba might be around." He began smirking at Izzy. "Do you think he might want a revenge match?"

"Shut up Simon," She groaned, punching him on the arm. "I sincerely hope not. I'll enough on my plate without him turning up."

"And on that cheerful note," Alyssa interrupted sometime later, "But I think we better complete Stage 3 of Operation Stowaway." She winked at Izzy. "We'll see you later."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Cassie grumbled.

"It'll be fun!" Alyssa said happily, waving her arm.

And with that, she wandered away into the crowds that had come to see the ship off, Cassie trailing close behind. Simon paused briefly to wave at Izzy who waved back, before he to followed them.

Izzy was now alone.

* * *

Izzy sighed as she leant over the side of the ship railings and watched the fish swimming along the boat. The sea sparkled in the Noon Sunshine as the ship made it's way to Pegasus' Island.

It may only have been a hour since she had boarded, but it seemed to Izzy like it had been an eternity.

Everywhere she went on the ship whispers, mostly about Seto Kaiba, followed her. People were silent as she passed them in the corridor but as soon as she was gone the muttering continued so here she was outside watching the ocean.

_"So you're the kid who kicked Seto Kaiba's butt." _Someone said suddenly from behind her.

Izzy jumped startled by the interruption.

"Pardon?" She gasped as her eyes settled on the young Japanese woman standing there. She had blond hair that went part way down her back and eyes that sparkled like diamonds. She was also wearing an outfit that was little too revealing _"I'm sorry,"_ Izzy corrected herself in Japanese._ "I didn't realise that anyone was standing there."_

The blonde women laughed.

"_You were too engrossed in the ocean."_ She came over and stood by Izzy by the railing.

"It's beautiful isn't it," Izzy thought aloud in English, nodding at the ocean. The woman looked at her in surprise.

_"You're English?"_ She asked curiously. Izzy nodded._ "Then how can you can speak Japanese so fluently?"_

_"Oh," _she mumbled, before she explained,_ "My friend taught me- She's part Japanese." _

_"So you did beat Kaiba?"_ The women said turning to Izzy, repeated her earlier question.

Izzy sighed, but nodded.

"_If you're referring to my encounter with him, lets just say it didn't exactly end as he expected."_

The woman chuckled

"_It's good to know that it isn't completely a man's world."_ She paused and put out her hand out, _"I'm Mai Valentine, by the way,"_

Izzy shook her hand.

_"You probably already know my name, but I'm Izzy Corbey. I'm delighted to meet you."_

Mai turned on her heal and shot over her shoulder.

_"I hope to see you on the Island. I won't do easy on you."_

Izzy smiled.

_"I look forward to it, Mai."_

Mai disappeared in to a doorway leaving Izzy alone in the silence or no quite so as Izzy was soon to find out.

The ship suddenly jerked left, speeding along in a different direction to the Island. It nearly sent Izzy flying, but she held on tight to the railing. She could a number of nearby crates creaking as they settled back in place but what she wasn't prepared for came next.

One crate began to talk.

"Ow. That hurts!"

"Tell me about it."

Izzy blinked. She wandered over to the crate in question to investigate. There was something fishy about that crate.

"Well after Simon gets off me, we might be able to do something about it!"

Izzy groaned. She couldn't believe it.

"I can't! Cassie's sitting on my leg."

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"That's it Alyssa! I'm never gonna try one of your crazy ideas again-" The side opening was yanked open. "Hi Izzy," Simon finished as they looked up at her

"What exactly are you doing?" She asked incredulously, staring at the three of them on the floor.

"Told ya, we stowed away."

"In a crate?"

"Well, it was the only way we could get on the-" Alyssa began

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Cassie mumbled suddenly, turning a pale green colour as she staggered to her feet and with her hand over her mouth she pushed pass Izzy. She disappeared out of view.

A few moments later came the recognisable sound of someone vomiting.

Simon, Alyssa and Izzy exchanged looks and scrambled out of the crate. They found her hanging over the side of the ship. Her face still supporting a greenish colour she threw up over the side of the boat.

"_So we have the real legend who defeated Seto Kaiba,"_ someone commented silkily from behind, _"It's a real honour to met you."_

Izzy spun around. It was Weevil Underwood the Japan Regional Champion. There was something about him that Izzy couldn't help but not trust.

"You have never been to a tournament before, have you?" He said as he cast cynical eye over her friends.

Cassie was still hanging over the side of boat- still vomiting occasionally while her sister rubbed her back to stop the vomiting. Simon was digging in Alyssa's bag for some _paracetamol._

"No." She replied curtly.

"Then I'll guess I'll have to look out for you." He smirked slightly at her.

"I guess you will." She reply coldly, glaring at him.

Weevil scowled at her and stalked away, but before he did he shoved Cassie out of the way.

Unfortunately, the place where Cassie was standing was next to the end of railing and Weevil had effectively shoved her of the side of the boat.

Fortunately, Alyssa and Izzy's reaction were much faster than gravity on this occasion. They both grabbed Cassie's arms before she tumbled to her watery doom. Together, they pulled her back up on to the deck.

Cassie sank to her knees while Izzy and Alyssa leant on the railing panting.

"Any respect that I had for him just went flying out the window," Simon commented darkly as he offered both a bottle and the tablets to the younger girl who accept them gratefully.

Alyssa turned to Izzy, her eyes glinting with untold anger.

"You better plan on taking him down!"

Izzy nodded.

"Oh yeah," she snarled, "He'll regret doing that."

"On a much brighter note, I think the vomiting has stopped," Cassie interrupted suddenly between gasps. She turned slightly where she and pointed to the distance where a land mass slowly emerged. "And I think we're nearly there." She had another gulp of water as she slowly stood up. "I can't wait to get off this stupid ship!"

It was true. They were fast approaching the Island. This was it. This was where it truly began. This is was where the fight would really began. She needed to win to Mike's soul back and woe betide anyone who stood in her way.

A/N: Before I go anywhere, there's something I wanna do.

My very good friend Waffles4eva has been plugging me and 'The Flight of Dreams' so I wanna do the same. She's writing a fic entitled 'A Superhero Story - Everybody has secrets and Ryou Bakura is no exception to that rule. He is plagued by some of those secret. Some may return to haunt him and others? You'll see.

It's on my favourite stories list so go and read it...

But review mine first


	9. Game Start

A/N: I'm back and so here is Chapter Eight.

Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter Eight- Game Start

The sun was high in the sky as a cool breeze blew from the sea. Simon shivered slightly, pulling his coat a little closer.

"Why is it so cold?" He grumbled to the girls. "The mainland wasn't this bad."

Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"Remember Simon, we're on a island," she said, stressing the last two words. "Therefore we're closer to the sea, so of course it's gonna be colder." Then she added, gesturing at the rest of the crowd who had gathered before the impressive castle. "Do you see anyone else complaining."

"No."

"So stop complaining and be quiet!"

Izzy and Cassie ignored the exchange taking place behind them. Each for their own reasons. Cassie was still trying to get over her seasickness, but admittedly she was doing a lot better since getting off the boat. However, she was still looking a tad pale after a certain Japanese Champion nearly pushed her over the side of the boat.

Izzy was ignoring Simon and Alyssa simply because she wanted to pay attention to the welcome speech that Pegasus was about to give. He might give a clue about this tournament. Any hint would be worth its weight in gold in her struggle to reclaim her brother's soul from the Duel Monster creator.

And speaking of him, Pegasus had finally emerged on the castle balcony.

_"Welcome Duelists!"_ He beamed at the crowd below him._ "I welcome you to Duelist Kingdom." _

"He looks quite harmless," Simon whispered quietly to Izzy.

"Don't be fooled," Izzy muttered darkly, glaring up at the castle. "Pegasus is much more dangerous than you think."

_"I have introduced some new rules for this special tournament."_ Pegasus continued, _"You will only use licensed Duel Monster cards for the duration of this tournament. Anyone found breaking this rule will be disqualified and deported."_ There was a collective murmur through the crowd. _"And speaking of Dueling, all official Duels will take on the Duel Arenas that are around the island. The Dueling Arenas have been kindly created by Industrial Illusion in collaboration with Kaiba Corporation."_

Izzy took a sharp inhale of breath.

"Alyssa...?" She murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Remember that magazine Máirín and Ophelia were reading in Form Time last week- the computing one?"

Alyssa nodded,

"Yeah."

"Then why didn't you tell me the Dueling World Champion..." She began.

"Former. Kaiba was champ until you thrashed him." Alyssa interjected.

"The former Dueling World Champion then," Izzy hissed, glaring slightly at her friend. "You never thought to tell me the Former World Champion and the billionaire teenage computing genius are one and the same."

"I thought you knew." Alyssa shrugged.

"_Your Dueling Gauntlet and your star chips are proof of your status as a Duelist."_ Pegasus was saying as Izzy returned her attention to the castle. _"Whenever you duel you must bet one or more of your star chips. If you lose them all, you will lose your status as Duelist Ten star chips will gain you access to the castle where the next stage of the tournament will begin. Dueling will commence in 30 minutes. I wish you all the very best of luck!" _

Izzy swore for a moment that Pegasus' lone eye locked on to her before he turned and disappeared into the castle.

Slowly, duelists began to disperse in all directions.

"Where to first?" Simon asked eventually, looking at Izzy.

"The forest." She said quietly, still looking up at the castle.

"Why do you want to go there?" He asked curiously.

"I want to do some insect squashing."

* * *

After following Izzy for about twenty minutes since the canon fire to signal the start of dueling and having had no real explanation of why they were in the forest, Cassie, Alyssa and Simon decided to hold a mini-mutiny.

"Izzy," Alyssa protested as she stopped abruptly in the middle of the path. "Why won't you tell us why we're wandering around in the forest?"

Izzy didn't turn around or stop.

"I told you, I want to do some insect squashing." She called over her shoulder. "Come on!"

"That's not an adequate description," Simon complained. "What Insect?"

This time Izzy did stop and turn around to look at her friends.

"The little insect that pushed Cassie overboard -Weevil Underwood."

"Ohh..."

And right on cue, the aforementioned Duelist emerged from the trees.

_"So you're looking for me," _Weevil smirked as he leant against the tree, _"I feel so privileged."_

_"Why I outta..." _Alyssa muttered as she began striding towards him.Yami- for he and Izzy had switched- put a restraining handon Alyssa's shoulder as she passed him.

"No," he muttered to her in English. "I'll deal with him."She nodded briefly and backed down. Yami turned back to Weevil who continued to smirk at them. _"We're gonna settle this now Weevil!" _Yami snarled at him, "_I'm gonna take you down."_

Weevil shrugged and began sprinting down the path. Simon, Cassie and Alyssa glanced at each other as 'Izzy' run after him. After a momentary pause, they followed them.

* * *

Weevil stopped suddenly in an open clearing and turned back to see if 'Izzy' was still following him. She was. He only had to wait a few moments before she and her friends emerged through the trees

_"We can duel over there,"_ Weevil said, nodding at the dueling stadium that had been hidden in amongst the woodland.

"_So you're accepting my challenge?"_ Yami spat, glaring at him.

Weevil rubbed his glasses as he trunched over to the stadium.

_"Well,"_ he muttered, _"I can't really count myself as a champion until I've beaten you!"_

_"In your dreams Bug-boy,"_ Simon yelled angrily as Yami took his place opposite Weevil on the Duel Stadium. _"Izzy's gonna kick your insect butt."_

_"Yeah," _Cassie agreed, as the opponents began to shuffle their respective decks._ "You're gonna regret shoving me over the side of the boat!"_

Yami plucked out the two star chips and slammed them down beside the playing field

"_We'll bet both of our star chips."_ He spat, as he drew his hand from the top of his deck. _"Winner takes all!"_

_"Fine by me,"_ Weevil smirked as he removed his own chips and drew his hand. _"So much the sweeter when I win."_

* * *

Two thousand miles from where Weevil and Yami were beginning their duel, a lone teenage sat at his desk wielding a small screwdriver and his name was Seto Kabia.

He had been working for many hours- transferring his attention from his laptop to his creation and back again every now and again. He hadn't worked like this for years. Occasionally, he would allow himself the small luxury of staring out of the window at the vast blue ocean.

He had not slept much either, not since last Friday and that was almost six days ago. Every time he really closed his eyes, his mind would replay the duel. He still couldn't quite believe how that girl- Izzy had beaten him and his Blue-Eyes. It should have been impossible. There was no card that existed that was powerful to wipe out his mighty dragon, but she had done it.

It was so much easier to concentrate on his new dueling system.

He eyed the components before him before selected a rather tiny computer chip. Carefully, he slotted it into place. The device whirled slightly, before emitting several flashes of light.

Once it had finished flashing, he reached for his deck and slotted it into place. He drew a sharp breath as he watched the small display. Slowly, the numbers ticked up to 4000 and settled.

Satisfied at last, Seto stored the disk, his deck and his laptop in his briefcase just as his office door flew open and several uniformed security guards burst into the room- each wielding rather large guns.

"Mister Pegasus would like to speak with you," One of the guards bravely demanded as he held his gun level with Seto. "Now!"

Seto did not panic. He was never been one for that. He merely grabbed his silver briefcase and much to the security guards' surprise, he jumped out of the open window.

After a few brief moments of stunned silence, one guard eventually spoke up,

"I wasn't expecting that!"

The others wholeheartedly agreed.

* * *

"_There's nothing you can do now,"_ Weevil cackled as the attack came hurtling toward the Dark Magician. _"I've won!"_

"No," Cassie yelped as she screwed her eyes shut. She couldn't watch this. Beside her, Alyssa and Simon drew sharp breathes. This couldn't be the end.

Yami did not flinch in the face of danger. Just as the attack reached his monster he calmly flipped over a card he placed on the field earlier.

_"Mirror force,"_ Yami declared as an invisible force appeared before the Dark Magician. _"It reflects your attack straight back at you,"_ he added smugly as the attack rebounded in all directions from the barrier and destroyed Weevil's insect army.

Weevil could only stare at him as he watched his own life points tick down to 550.

_"How did you..."_ he garbled,_ "How could you defeat my insect army?"_

_"Because unlike you, I have friends behind me,"_ Yami smirked as Weevil glared furiously at him. He drew a card from his deck._ "And they believe in me."_

_"Yes!"_ Simon yelled as he high-fived Alyssa. _"Hear that Bug-boy! You're going down."_

_"I have to take a hand it to her," _someone said quietly behind them. They jumped. "_That girl can sure can pick her opponents,"_ the blonde women continued as Alyssa, Simon and Cassie stared at her.

_"Pardon?"_

_"Who are you and how do you know Izzy?" _Simon asked as Weevil began his turn.

_"I'm Mai Valentine,"_ she sighed, gesturing at Izzy._ "We met on the boat."_

_"I activate Larvae Moth in defense mode,"_ Weevil yelled as a small caterpillar creature appeared on the stadium. He also placed another card_ on the field. "And I play this face-down_."

Cassie looked curiously at Mai as Weevil ended his turn.

Mai raised her eyebrows.

"_So who are you three?"_ She asked eventually.

_"Us...?"_ Cassie bit her lip slightly, _"We're... um..."_

_"What Cassie's trying to say is that we're Izzy's friends. I'm Simon and this sister Cassie."_ He supplied, nodding at the girl in question who was avidly watching the duel in front of them, _"And that's her older sister Alyssa."_

_"So you must be the friends she mentioned?"_

_"Yeah,"_ Simon began. Then he stopped and added, _"Wait. She told you about us?"_

Mai nodded as Yami withdrew his monsters from the field and shuffled his hand back into his deck.

_"What where you saying earlier about Izzy?"_ Simon said, shaking his head.

"_Oh, that,"_ Mai said with a wave of her hand, _"It's just the first public duel that I've heard that she dueled was against the World Champion and now the first person in this tournament she's fighting is the Japanese Champion."_

_"Yeah,"_ Cassie muttered,_ "Funny how things turn out..."_

_"I hate to interrupt this wonderful conversation,"_ Alyssa interrupted, waving at the stadium._ "But that did not look or sound or good!"_

And indeed it didn't.

Where the rather small Larvae Moth had been only moments before, a rather large cocoon was sitting in it's place and a rather smug Weevil sitting behind it.

Yami seemed to be as surprised as the rest of them.

"What the...?"

/My view precisely/ Izzy agreed from the back of his mind. /What is that thing/

"_Izzy meet my Cocoon of Evolution."_ Weevil cackled, pointing a finger at his opponent. _"Inside it is my Larvae Moth. For the next five turns, my Larvae will grow into the Ultimate Perfect Great Moth. It will be invincible."_ Yami gave out a slight gasp of horror as Weevil continued, _"With each turn that passes, my Larvae becomes stronger. And that's not all, the field power bonus also increases my Cocoon's defenses. You'll never reach it!" _

_"This isn't over yet,"_ Yami spat as he began his turn. He closed his eyes, drawing his next card. He opened them, smiling. _"Gaia the Fierce Knight,"_ he yelled as he slammed the card down on the field.

_"Go Gaia,"_ Yami commanded as a brown horse appeared on the field, its rider- a blue and red knight- wielding two red lances. _"Attack that Cocoon with Spiral Saber."_

The monster lunged forwards obediently, rasing the saber above it's head.

_"It's no good, Izzy,"_ Weevil laughed as the saber shattered against the impenetrable cocoon._ "You can't do anything to stop me."_

_"He's right," _Mai muttered to Simon as Weevil passed his next turn,_ "No one has ever beaten Weevil and his Cocoon strategy."_

Simon raised his eyebrows slightly.

_"The same was said of Seto Kaiba and his Blue-Eyes White Dragon,"_ he spat fiercely back, _"Until Izzy kicked his butt! Just watch her burn Bug-boy to a crisp."_

Yami lifted his head slightly.

"_That's it!"_ He yelled, glancing across at his friends. "Simon, you're a genius!"

"I am...? Simon asked, looking a little confused at Izzy's reaction.

"He is...?" Alyssa echoed.

_"I play Curse of Dragon,"_ Yami continued as a long yellow dragon emerged on the field. It snarled at Weevil who jumped back in surprise. Still smirking, Yami selected another card from his hand and placed it on the field. _"I also play this- Burning Land. Watch this Weevil!" _

Weevil reeled back in horror as the fire blazed from the Curse of Dragon's mouth, burning the forest playing field to an crisp.

_"What are you doing?"_ He screeched the Dragon settled back on Yami's side of the field.

Yami smirked again, waving a finger at the Weevil and his Cocoon.

"_The field power bonus that was increasing your Cocoon defenses is now gone."_ He motioned at the second monster on the field. "Your cocoon is no match for my_ Gaia. Now go Gaia, Spiral Saber."_

Gaia lunged forward as commanded and sliced the overlarge cocoon in two.

"_Yes,"_ Cassie yelled, punching the air as the cocoon disappeared in blaze of light._ "She did it!"_

_"Heh, heh, heh,"_ Weevil snickered as a giant insect forced its way out of the cocoon. Yami could only stare at the insect in repulsion as Weevil continued, _"Meet the Great Moth. You may have prevented it reaching it's ultimate form, but it is still strong enough to wipe your monsters out!"_ He shoved his green spectacles back up his nose before pointing at Gaia. _"Take flight my Great Moth!"_

The Great Moth was a creature of flight. It flew and that meant any attacks would come from the air. It was the only way to save an other monster from it's grasp.

"_I activate Polymerisation."_ Yami flipped over the second card that he'd had concealed_. "It fuses my Gaia the Fierce Knight and my Curse of Dragon."_ The two creature began swirling together in orb of multicolored energy. "_Into the powerful Gaia the Dragon Champion."_ Yami finished as the new creature burst forth on Yami's side of the field. _"Now it's more than a match for your over-grown moth!"_

_"I don't thing so. Look at your Dragon,"_ Weevil sniggered

Yami did so, unable to believe what he saw.

_"But how can you...?"_ He blurted as the Dragon Champion was starting to slowly dissolve into thin air.

"_My Moth does not only wipe out it's opponents, but it disperses a poison pollen which intoxicating every monster on the field." _

_"If she can get out of this I'll be impressed,"_ Mai said, folding her arms.

"_Then I'll play this,"_ Yami slammed a further card down on the field. _"__Makiou, the Magic Mist." _

_"Look,"_ Cassie murmured as a small grey cloud appeared above the stadium and began drizzling all over it and the monsters.

Weevil laughed and pointed at Yami,

_"You may have stopped the poison, but it's done it's damage. Your Dragon Champion is no match for my Moth."_ He paused and waved a hand at his own creature_ "Go Great Moth and destroy her Dragon Champion!"_

The Great Moth did as commanded, lunging forward smiting Gaia the Dragon Champion in one blow.

Weevil couldn't stop laughing as the smoke settled on the field,

_"I did it,"_ he cackled as the breeze blew away the smoke, _"I beat Izzy Corb-"_ His sentence and laughter were cut short when he realised his opponent was smirking at him. _"How did...?"_ He garbled with his mouth open, _"But I destroyed your Gaia! I should have won!"_

"_If you would be too kind as to look again, you'll see I still have 100 life,"_ Yami waved a finger at Weevil, _"I'm not finished yet."_ He paused and selected a card from his hand and placed it on the field.

_"Summoned Skull!"_ Alyssa cheered joyfully as the mighty monster rose to take its place on the field. _"You gotta love that card!"_

Weevil began to laugh a little hysterically,

_"Summoned Skull only has 2500 ATTACK,"_ he yelled desperately, "_My Moth is still stronger-" _

Once again, he cut short by Yami who was smirking at him.

_"Think about it Weevil,"_ he chuckled as the mighty Summoned Skull howled, _"I played __Makiou, the Magic Mist." _

Slowly, the realisation dawned on Weevil. Makiou had washed away the poison pollen and had damped the field. It was still wet.

_"Yes,"_ Yami nodded, reinforcing what was on the field,_ "Everything on the field is now wet, including your Great Moth, making it a perfect conductor for Summoned Skull!"_

_"No,"_ Weevil tried weakly as the mighty creature began powering up.

_"You should know,"_ Yami added, waving a finger at the panicking Champion, _"Cheaters never win! Summoned Skull, Lightening Strike!"_

* * *

The screen flashed as the two photographs flashed up.. The first one was of the girl who held the Millennium Puzzle- Izzy Corbey. The second was of her opponent Weevil Underwood - the Japanese Champion.

As Pegasus watched, Weevil's photo disappeared.

"Weevil Underwood," the computer declared as the photo disappeared, "Eliminated."

"It seems Weevil was no match for her," Pegasus chuckled as he sipped his red wine eying the photograph of Izzy. "She's much stronger than I originally thought."

While he was musing, the door opened slightly and a security guard shuffled in. He didn't really want to break the news to the boss.

"My apologizes sir, but the prisoner has escaped." He muttered eventually, raising his head.

Pegasus merely raised his eyebrow and swiveled slightly in his chair, his Millennium Eye sparkling behind his grey hair.

"Don't worry, he hasn't gone far."

"I promise, we will find him, sir," The guard offered as he closed the door behind him.

Pegasus sighed. He couldn't believe it. He'd offered to look have the little brat as his personal guest on his Island while big brother disappeared off to the ends of the earth- wallowing in self-pity and this was how he repaid him- by escaping. Kids these days

_"Pegasus!"_ A speaker barked, reclaiming his attention.

_"Yes,"_ Pegasus curtly as he flicked the relevant screen on to reveal an obscure and fuzzy figure.

_"Have you forgotten our deal, Pegasus, you-"_ the large figure on the screen demanded.

"_I know perfectly well what our deal was, Mr. Gansley,"_ Pegasus intrusted curtly, cutting the figure short. The figure grunted in indignation as Pegasus continued,_ "I take care of Seto Kaiba for you and in return you and the rest of you colleagues give me Kaiba Corp."_The figure on the screen snorted,

_"Well," _he snapped, eyeing Pegasus through the screen, _"According to our sources, Kaiba managed to avoid your welcoming committee." _He paused, then added,_ "We need Mr. Kaiba out of the way."_

_"It was a minor technical hitch," _Pegasus shrugged_, "Don't worry, he'll come." _

The figure on the screen seemed to be slightly skeptical, but eventually nodded,

_"Don't fail us, Pegasus!"_

_

* * *

__"Celtic Guardian,"_ Yami ordered, waving his hand at the creature before him. _"Destroy his Science Soldier!"_ The elven creature raised its sword and lunged forwards smiting the small soldier in two. Yami ordered, waving his hand at the creature before him. The elven creature raised its sword and lunged forwards smiting the small soldier in two. 

The soldier's master winced as his life points dropped to zero and all the monsters on the field disappeared.

_"And with that Darrien,"_ Yami continued, smirking slightly, _"Is game over. I win!"_

Without another word, the lad turned and sprinted off into the forest.

_"That's not fair!"_ Cassie screeched incredulously. "_He's supposed to hand over his chips."_

"He won't get far," Simon shouted as both he and Alyssa darted after him. "Don't worry Izzy," he added, yelling over his shoulder as they disappeared into the forest. "We'll go and get him!"

Yami didn't respond immediately, scooping up the rest of his star chips and quickly inserting them back into his Gauntlet.

With that task complete, he nodded at Cassie and muttered,

"Come on," as he and Cassie followed Alyssa and Simon into the forest.

* * *

Eventually, he stopped running and leant against a nearby tree.

_"You know,"_ someone said causally beside him. _"You shouldn't do that!"_

Darrien jumped. It was the girl who had been with Izzy Corbey. The one with the untamable hair and glasses. He couldn't believe she had caught up with him.

"_Like you can do anything about it,"_ he snorted at her.

_"True,"_ she shrugged, _"But instead, we'll just play a little game."_ She pointed at the small bag at his waist. _"That's a dice box,"_ she added, removing her own dice box from her bag, "_We'll play Dungeon Dice Monsters on this tree stump,"_ Alyssa gestured at the stump. _"If you win, I'll give you my entire dice pool."_

_"And if I lose...?"_ He asked, arching his eyebrows. This was going to be easy.

Alyssa grinned slightly.

"_You hand over all your star chips and your Duelist Gauntlet to me!"_

_"This'll be easy,"_ he smirked kneeling down.

_"We'll see."_

* * *

"Yo... Izzy?"

Izzy glanced across at her companion as they picked their way through the brambles and bushes.

Her last opponent Darrien Blunt had made a run for it in the forest after their duel. Simon and Alyssa had run after him, leaving Izzy and Cassie to follow in their wake. That had been about ten minutes ago, and there had been head nor tail of all three.

"Yes," she said eventually as she pushed a rather large branch out of her way. "What's wrong Cassie?"

"Nothing much," the smaller girl sighed, as she to pushed branches out of her way as she walked. "It's just that I was wondering why we didn't wait for Simon and Allie by the stadium? I mean that's where they're gonna look for us."

"Well, you know what they're like," Izzy pointed out, avoiding a particularly nasty patch of nettles. "And besides if we're all in here, then there is more chance that we'll catch Darrien.

"I guess you're right-"

As she spoke, the sound of feet started to come in their direction. Faster and faster. Louder and louder.

They could hear voices- more distinctly Simon. He was presumably yelling at Darrien and he was yelling back.

Izzy motioned to Cassie and hid behind a nearby tree. Cassie nodded and did the same as the thundering footsteps came closer.

"Got you!" Simon shouted triumphantly as he dived on the lad. Only as Izzy and Cassie peered around their trees, they saw what Simon hadn't. It wasn't Darrien.

_"Get off me,"_ the prisoner yelled back which Simon did so.

It was small lad with long black hair who was sprawled over the forest floor- a definite contrast to Darrien who'd had red hair. Izzy noted that he was about Cassie's age and that made him about the same age as Mike. Before she knew it, her heart began aching for her own brother so far away in a Birmingham hospital.

She was brought back to reality by Cassie who was yelling at Simon.

"Simon! You idiot! " Cassie reprimanded, aiming a foot at him as she helped the poor lad to his feet. "Did you not realise it wasn't Darrien?"

"It was dark," Simon argued getting to his feet, "He just kept running, I just though it was him!"

Cassie ignored him. Instead, she turned to the boy and muttered,

_"I'm really sorry."_

The boy shrugged, dusting himself down.

_"It's alright,"_ he smiled at them, _"I thought you were someone else."_

"Here," Izzy interrupted, pulling a chocolate bar from her bag. The lad took it.

Cassie and Simon stared at her.

"You have food?"

Izzy nodded.

_"I'm sorry about jumping on you,"_ Simon said sheepishly, rubbing his arm while Izzy explained to Cassie why she had chocolate and food in general.

_"Like I said it's all right. My name's Mokuba."_ He offered, glancing up at Simon still munching on the chocolate bar. _"Mokuba Kaiba."_

Izzy turned her head sharply.

_"Kaiba...?"_ She asked incredulously, staring at him. _"Did you just say Kaiba?"_ Mokuba nodded. _"You wouldn't be related to Seto Kaiba, would you?"_

_"Yup,"_ he added cheerfully, finishing the bar._ "His my big brother!"_

There was a mild thud as Izzy hit her head against a nearby tree.

"That's not fair," she mumbled into the tree trunk while the others looked on in slight amusement. "That is just not fair."

_"So,"_ Mokuba asked eventually, _"You didn't say who you were - who are you?"_

Simon and Cassie hesitated briefly, glancing at each other and at Izzy before answering

_"I'm Simon,"_ he said, _"This is Cassie,"_ he paused and indicated Izzy, _"And that's Izzy."_

This time it was Mokuba's turn to whip his head around.

_"Did you say Izzy?"_ Mokuba demanded, glaring at Izzy's back. "Are you the one who beat my brother?"

She nodded sadly

"After you beat him, Seto's became so depressed, and I've never seen him like it before," Mokuba sighed slipping into an English tongue, looking at Izzy, "I mean Seto can be quite distant at times, but this-" He shook his head. "And it's worse than that,"

"How so...?" Izzy asked, touching Mokuba's shoulder.

"Pegasus wants Kaiba Corporation," he spat miserably, "And with Seto out of the way, the Board is more than happy to oblige with his wishes." He paused, and added. "There's just one catch."

"And what's that?" Cassie ventured.

"He defeats you," Mokuba nodded at Izzy, "When he's beaten you, he can have Kaiba Corporation." Close to tears, he added, "I can't let that happen! All the work Seto's done will be worthless!"

"Don't worry Mokuba," Izzy said quietly, turning back to him. "I'm not going to let Pegasus win," She fiddled with something around her neck. Removing the locket from her neck, she flicked it open and showed it to Mokuba. "That's Mike- my brother." She pointed at the photograph on the left. "I didn't come here willingly either," she sighed. "And I promise you, I 'll beat Pegasus."

Mokuba nodded, smiling slightly as Izzy replaced the locket from around her neck,

"Thank yo-"

He was cut short by a person walking past the trees.

"Hiya," Alyssa said cheerfully as she joined the group, "What did I miss?"

They stared at her.

"What?" She asked innocently before tossing something at Izzy. "You might want these." Izzy instinctively grabbed them,

"Hey, the star chips," Izzy said, holding the two star chips, "Were did you get them?"

"Darrien Blunt."

"You found him, then," Simon muttered dryly.

"Oh, yeah," Alyssa laughed, "And that's not all." She held up her right hand so they could see the Gauntlet and the three chips in it. "I got this from him too."

"You stole it!"

Rolling her eyes, Alyssa put her sister in a tight headlock.

"Why would you think that I would steal it?" She glanced across at Izzy and Simon who began to protest.

"Don't look at us!"

"We didn't say anything!"

Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"But you were thinking it," She continued, waving away the looks that both Simon and Izzy were shooting each other and her. "For your information I won his Gauntlet from him fair and square, actually." She stopped "So who's this then?" She asked, finally letting go of Cassie and nodding at Mokuba who for a few moments had been stood quietly in the corner, watching the previous exchange.

"Alyssa, this is Mokuba Kaiba- Seto Kaiba's younger brother." Izzy explained as Mokuba gave a little nod. Alyssa returned the gesture as Izzy continued, "Mokuba, this is Alyssa- Cassie's older sister."

_"I'm delighted to meet you,"_ she grinned, in Mokuba's native tongue.

He seemed quite surprised.

"Our maternal grandmother was Japanese." Alyssa supplied to his unasked question as Cassie mouthed at Simon.

"See."

"So," she whistled eventually, ignoring them, turning back to Mokuba "How did you meet these three?"

"Yeah," Simon muttered sheepishly, returning to the conversation, glancing at Mokuba, "I kinda dived on him in the forest."

"What?"

While this exchange was going on, Izzy thought she heard a slight cough from somewhere. She blinked, realsing it was Yami.

/So there is much more to this tournament then meets the eye./ Izzy winced at his statement.

/You don't know how cheesy that sounded./ Yami raised his eyebrows slightly./Pegasus wants Kaiba's company/ he said eventually/And we've been caught in the crossfire./

/Yami, I think there has to be another reason/ Izzy pointed out/Pegasus has the Millennium Eye and he knows about you and the Puzzle! He must need us for something else./

/Even so we need to be-/

He interrupted suddenly by a yell.

"Get off me!" Mokuba was shouting furiously. Izzy snapped back to attention in time to see him being dragged backward into the forest.

She was gone before the other had time to react. She ran and ran- through bushes and brambles trying to reach him in time.

Eventually she came to the edge of the green forest but it was too late. Mokuba and whomever had taken him had gone. There was no sign of them.

"Mokuba," she whispered silently to the wind as Simon, Cassie and Alyssa stumbled out of the forest, "I promised."

* * *

"That was cool how you finished Rex Raptor," Cassie giggled as passing the bottle to her sister. Alyssa chuckled.

"I guess it served him right," she laughed as she reached for a packet of salt and Vinegar crisps. "Don't underestimate me! I may be small, but me and my deck sure can pack a punch."

Simon nodded.

"Not every Duelist has been as bad as Bug Boy, Dice Boy and Dino Dude." He pointed out, drinking from his own bottle. "Mako was okay!"

He was referring to their encounter earlier that day with Mako Tsunami- the Duelist of the Sea. They had been wandering by the Sea when they met Mako. He had instantly challenged Izzy to Duel. After a tight match Izzy had won and claimed his star chips. They had parted as friends.

Alyssa shrugged her shoulder, taking a drink from the bottle.

"Fair point!"

They had set up camp on the outskirts of the forest. It would provide them with a little shelter from the wind as they slept that night.

Izzy watched the small fire that Simon and Alyssa had made from broken twigs and branches they had found. The fire flickered backwards and forwards, a chilling wind almost moving the flames to her will.

" You never did explain how Pegasus stole Mike soul." Cassie said quietly, bringing Izzy back to reality.

"Huh?" She blinked.

"Izzy," Simon muttered putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, "We want to know how he did it."

"Oh," Izzy mumbled as her eyes returned to the fire. "Oh," she repeated quietly. "Pegasus used his Millennium Eye. It has the power to remove a person's soul from their bodies and trap them." She paused and sighed. "I think Pegasus used it to read my mind."

The other were silent.

"Woh," Simon muttered eventually. "I wasn't expecting an answer like that."

"Me neither," Cassie agreed, nodding. "It's just- oh, I don't know."

Izzy smiled sadly.

"Now you know why I said that Pegasus was more dangerous than you thought."

They sat in silence for a few more moments until-

"What's your favourite card?"

"Pardon?" Izzy asked, staring in disbelieve at her friend.

"Seriously," Alyssa repeated, pulling out a card from her deck, "What's your favourite card?" "This is mine- Strike Ninja. It's never let me down!"

"That's obvious for me," Izzy flickered through her deck and pulled out her favourite card, "Dark Magician!"

"I prefer this one," Simon said, holding up the Flame Swordsman Card.

"My favourite card is the Mystical Elf." Cassie chipped happily as she waved the card depicted a tall elf clasping her hands in front of her.

"We could have a friendly duel," Alyssa suggested, shuffling the Strike Ninja back into her deck Izzy looked at her friend curiously as she shuffled her own cards back into her deck.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Alyssa nodded, smiling as she placed her deck on the tree stump. She straightened back up and continued. "And by the way there's something I've been wanting to show you," She paused slightly as her face darkened. "Particularly you, Izzy."

Simon, Cassie and Izzy stared at her in mixture of surprise and horror as they watched Alyssa stretched out her fingers in front of her. A mysterious circle of bright light blazing from her chest as a round circular disc slowly materialised.

"That's a Millennium Item!" Izzy gasped she beheld the golden ring around her friend's neck.

Yes," Alyssa smirked as she watched her friend's face open. "The Millennium Ring and watch what it can do," The Ring shot three beams of light at Izzy, Simon and Cassie, ripping their souls from their bodies.

Alyssa watched as her friends and sister crumbled to the ground. She snorted as she walked over to them kicking Simon's leg out of the way in the process.

"You're even more foolish than I thought," She reached down to take the Puzzle from where Izzy lay. "Since you'll no longer be need this, I'll take it."

As her fingers hovered briefly over the Puzzle, it began to glow with an intense brightness. Alyssa shielded her eyes and stepped back.

She opened her eyes to see one person stirring and beginning to stagger to their feet.

"If you want my Puzzle," Yami snarled as he slowly rose to his feet, "You'll have to duel me for it," He waved a finger at Alyssa. "If I win you'll release the soul of the others."

She shrugged.

"Fine," she smirked, shoving her glasses back up her nose, kneeling down beside the tree stump as Yami knelt by Cassie and Simon. "Just to let you know this is a Shadow Game that you won't be able to win!"

A/N: Blah! It's finished. The longest chapter I've written is finally complete. Now I'm going to go and sleep. As I'm now back at school, I'll update as and when I can.


	10. Against the Odds

A/N: Blah… I think I'm dead. This is actually only half of what I wanted to write for this chapter, but seeing as I haven't updated for yonks, I update the next chapter in two installments. So I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter Nine – Against the Odds

"This is one game you won't be able to win," Alyssa spat as she drew her cards and glanced across at her opponent. "Are you ready?"

Yami nodded as he studied his own hand. His mind was already calculating his first moves. He was not going to fail his friends. He would win this and save them all.

"Good," Alyssa smirked. She was wearing a grin that looked so out of place on her usually cheerful face. "For my first move, I'll play this," She selected a card from her hand and placed it on the field. "Aqua Madoor attack mode and," Alyssa selected a further card from her hand, "I'll also place this face down." She paused and added, "With that I'll end my turn."

Yami flickered his eyes over his hand again. Aqua Madoor was a strong card to play first. It had 1200 ATTACK and the only thing in his hand that stood a change of beating it was Flame Swordsman- Simon's favourite card.

"I activate this- Flame Swordsman," Yami slammed the card down as a small orange flame flickered from the ground. It swirled in a circle before dropping suddenly revealing a small figure clutching a giant sword that was twice his size.

Simon opened his eyes. He shut them and after a few seconds he opened them again- still unable to believe what he was actually seeing.

"What the..." he stammered at the strange green blue monster, but before he could figure out anything else, he heard someone calling his name. He glanced upwards and saw the giant sized version of Izzy. "Izzy," Simon muttered weakly, "What are you doing up there?"

"Alyssa," Yami yelled furiously. "What have you done to him?" At that, Simon glanced down at his attire and he cursed, rather loudly.

"No!" He was wearing the outfit of the Flame Swordsman. "This can not be happening!"

Alyssa smirked and waved a finger at her opponent and his small friend.

"His soul has been entombed in his favourite card. It's a Shadow Game, remember," She laughed, "In this game anything is possible, but I'm sure you knew that."

"You evil-"

"Are you just going to sit there and insult me," she snarled, "Or are you going to continue with your turn."

Yami glared at her.

"Fine," he spat fiercely, pointing his finger at Aqua Madoor, "Simon, attack her monster!"

"Whatever you say, Izzy," Simon shrugged as he lunged forwards and sliced the Aqua Madoor in two.

As Simon stood back, Yami placed a second card on the field,

"With this, I'll end my turn."

Alyssa drew her own card from her deck. She smirked as she acknowleged what it was.

"Excellent!" She selected a card from her hand and place it on the field. "Nightmare Penguin- DEFENCE MODE." A rather evil looking penguin in a top-hat and bow-tie rose from the tree stump.

Simon jumped back in surprise.

Alyssa merely snorted at him as she selected the card she had just drawn, "And I'll also play this - Fissure. I'm sure you know what it does!"

"No!"

"Oh, yes," she hissed back as a grey and rotting hand shot up from the ground, "And since your Flame Swordsman is the only monster you have on the field, say goodbye to him!"

"No," Yami repeated defiantly as Simon was dragged downward -screaming as he disappeared into the stump.

"If your friends are sent to the graveyard, and their soul is claimed by the Soul Reaper." She chuckled as Yami clenched his fist, "It's over and your friends will die." She paused, "So which friend are you going to sacrifice next?"

"I activate Monster Reborn to bring Simon back from the graveyard." Yami snapped, slamming the relevant card on the tree stump.

Simon reappeared - shaking violently from his recent experience in the graveyard.

"Simon," Yami asked urgently, "Are you all right?"

"I never wanna go there again," Simon, muttered slightly hysterically, as he clutching his mighty sword in his hand.

Alyssa snorted.

"Your're wasting your cards and effort on those foolish friends."

Yami glared at her.

"My friends are worth all that and more," he snarled as he selected a second card from his hand. "And to prove my faith in them," Yami added, placing the card on the field. It glowed slightly, before a slim figure wearing a soft green dress rose gracefully from the playing field. "Mystical Elf- DEFENCE MODE."

Cassie looked up and blinked.

"What the...?" She muttered.

"That's exactly what I said a few moments ago," Simon interjected suddenly, causing her to jump and glance across at him. She stared at him.

"Simon," she asked eventually, "Why are you dressed as the Flame Swordsman?"

Simon sighed.

"The same reason that you're dressed as the Mystical Elf," he muttered quietly as he pointed across the field. Cassie blinked, glancing down at her own outfit before following his finger and gasped.

"Alyssa," Cassie denied as her eyes locked on to her sister, "It can't be!"

Simon nodded.

"Now if you think that's weird," he said indicated upwards. "Try explaining that!"

Cassie glanced up to giant-sized Yami looking down at them.

"What the...?" She repeated again, "What's going on?"

"I also asked that question," Simon commented wryly, "As of yet, I've had no answer..."

While this exchange was taking place, Alyssa selected two cards from her hand and placed them on the field.

"I activate these two cards- Meteor of Destruction," she added smugly as a mighty yellow rock appeared above her head and came careering towards her opponent. Yami flinched with pain as it struck just below his left shoulder- plummeting his life points down to 3000.

"Izzy," Simon and Cassie yelped in unison.

"I'm fine," Yami growled, as the pain gradually disappeared. "It's my turn-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Alyssa smirked, waving a finger at him. "You forgot my second magic card- Card of Destruction to stop you think that withholding your friends will save them"

Scowling, Yami discarded his hand and drew a new one. He flickered his eyes over his new hand and drew a sharp intake of breath. He had drawn Dark Magician. Izzy's soul was trapped within- her- and coincidentally his own favourite card. If her soul was bound to that of the Dark Magician, that what of his. His soul was tied to hers and surely if her soul was lost, then he would also be lost.

He scowled again. Alyssa had been manipulating him all a long. She had clearly demonstrated that keeping cards in his hand wouldn't save them., so the only way he could protect Izzy was to play Dark Magician and risk her safety out on the field.

Biting his lip slightly, Yami selected Dark Magician and placed it on the field,

"I play Dark Magician in ATTACK MODE," he said as a third figure rose from the stump to join his side of the field.

Izzy straightened back up- her purple gown billowing gently as she raised her head.

"Cassie," she said quietly, acknowledging their presence, but ignoring the giant-sized Alyssa looming in front of them. "Simon."

"Wait... if you're down here, then who's that?!" Cassie demanded, flickering her hand from Izzy upwards towards the much larger version that was holding the cards.

Izzy lowered her Magician's staff and glanced up at Yami. He nodded.

"That would be Yami," she said eventually, indicating upwards. "The Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle."

They stared at her.

"Ya what?!"

"Did I not mention him?"

"No," Cassie said flatly. "That part you conveniently left out!"

Izzy shrugged slightly.

"I didn't think you would believe me," she glanced up to see the large version of Alyssa looming above, sneering down at them. "It's sorta complicated," she paused and added through the mind-link to Yami/What was that I saying about things being much more complicated than we thought?/

Yami raised his eyebrows and stifled a chuckle, nodding,

//It's good to hear your voice. I was worried for a moment.../ He trailed off, glancing across at his opponent/But there's something that I don't understand, why would Alyssa do this?//

Izzy scrutinized her friend. Alyssa was one of a kind. Always so full of life and as Izzy recalled Alyssa was always smiling. She was a great friend- honest, if a little blunt most of the time. She may have had her faults but she would never turn evil. It just wasn't in her.

/Yami,/ Izzy muttered quietly, tightening her grip on her staff. /I don't think it is her./ She voiced this louder so that Simon and Cassie could hear, "The real Alyssa would never betray us like this!"

Simon scowled as he waved his sword while Cassie blinked up in confusion. He looked Izzy to Yami who were both glaring at Alyssa- both reaching a similar conclusion.

"She's right," Yami nodded, looking down at the small figurines. He pointed at Alyssa and added, "We know our friend and you're not her!"

"So you're not as stupid as you appear." Alyssa gave a mock bow and smirked, "My name is Bakura and like you, I also inhabit a Millennium Item- the Millennium Ring. Your friend- Alyssa didn't even realised that I existed, before now."

"Oh," Simon said eventually. "That explain's a lot!"

"If you're not my sister," Cassie yelled at Bakura, "Then what have done to her?"

Bakura shrugged.

"Same as you," he snorted as he drew a card, "Her soul is encased in her favourite card. I suspect you'll be seeing her very soon." He paused briefly- registering which card it was. He smirked, "Actually, don't wait!" Bakura slammed it down on the field, "Strike Ninja- ATTACK MODE!"

In much the same fashion that Simon, Cassie and Izzy had appeared on the field, a second figure rose next to the Knightmare Penguin- dressed in black cloth with a blood-red sash around her middle, the Strike Ninja straightened up and looked across the field.

"Izzy..?" She blinked several times, "Guys, why are you dressed like that?"

Though she felt far from it, Izzy felt a smile tugging at her lips. Beside her, she could hear Cassie chirping happily.

"Alyssa," She began moving towards her sister, "You're alrig-"

"No!" Yami yelled suddenly. He had been quiet since Bakura had revealed himself and his sudden outburst caused them all to jump out of their skins, "Don't! Cassie, the moment you move towards her, you'll attack her. Alyssa may still be your sister, but I hate to say she's still the enemy."

"What...?" Simon yelled outraged. "That can't be?!"

"I'm the enemy...?" Alyssa spluttered, glancing upward too to see the overly large version of herself, glaring down at them all.. "Hey," she asked curiously What am I doing up there, if I 'm down here?"

"It's quite simple really," Bakura smirked, butting in as Alyssa stared up at him in fear and confusion and across the field at her sister and her friends, "In order to win this game and save your little friends, you have to destroy Strike Ninja and Alyssa. Let's see if you have the guts."

"No!"

"Bakura," Simon shouted angrily, waving fist at him. "Why I outta...!"

Izzy chewed her lower lip. She knew this game well enough to understand which cards were the most powerful. She had been drawn to Dark Magican, but it came at a price - it was the most powerful card on the field and the only one that-

She turned slightly and looked directly at Yami, voicing exactly those thoughts,

/I'm the only one with high enough ATTACK point to destroy Strike Ninja./ she said fiercely/Alyssa's my best friend. Yami, I'm not going to attack her. I'm sorry but I just can't!/

//I...// He began, but stopped, shaking his head. There was only one card that could help them, but the chances of drawing it where slim to none. It was the only way to avoid attacking Alyssa and save them all. He took a deep breath before drawing.

His face broke into a wide grin.

//Don't worry Izzy,// he continued, smiling slightly//I have a plan.//

"You can't," Cassie yelled as Yami held the card in his hand. "She's still my sister! You can't do this. "

He ignored her, slamming the card down on the on the field as he shot, "I activate this- Change of Heart!" A light sprang up from the card and lunged forward towards Strike Ninja.

"What have you done?" Cassie screeched as the light that had I engulphed her sister disappeared, "You've killed-" She stopped, realsing Alyssa was standing right next to her- looking steadily more confused.

Bakura, however was no longer wearing that smug expression on his face. In fact, he was no longer looking at all happy. With that one move, his reasurance token had been taken from him and his Nightmare Penguin was the only monster he had the field. One attack from the Magician would destroy that last line of defense. The others would then be able to wipe him out completely.

Yami took careful note of his opponent's side of the field and glanced down briefly on his own monsters.

//Told you I had a plan,// he chuckled. He turned back to Bakura, smirking as he did so, "Now, where we, Bakura? Ah, yes, you were mocking our friendship," Yami waved a finger at his opponent as he ordered, "We'll show you the true meaning of friendship. Izzy, destroy the Knightmare Penguin."

Izzy grinned widely

"With pleasure..." She smiled as she raised her Magician's staff and lunged forwards.

* * *

"Alyssa."

She ignored it. She was tired and the thought of sleep was far too appealing.

"Alyssa!" The voice repeated again- more urgently this time.

Groaning, Alyssa opened one eye, then the other and sat up. She was surprised to find Izzy holding her arm and wearing a look of profound terror on her face.

"Alyssa," Izzy yelled, as she threw her arms around her friend. "I'm so glad that you're all right! I was so worried..."

"Hey," Alyssa protested, shoving Izzy slightly. "I have personal space issues!" Izzy nodded and released her friend.

After a slight pause, Alyssa spoke up.

"Izzy...?" She muttered, blinking at her friend. "What happened?"

Her friend sat down beside her.

"Do you remember anything?" Izzy asked quietly.

"Nothing much," Alyssa replied slowly, "Just darkness mostly and the ever-lasting cold. It was like nothing I'd felt before." She shivered to illustrate the point, "I was..."

"Afraid...?" Her friend nodded as she removed her glasses and pulled a piece of cloth from her pocket.

"Yeah," Alyssa muttered eventually. Replacing them on her face, she continued, "It was terrifying. I've never understood fear until then." Then she smiled, back to her normal self, "Then the next thing I know I'm dressed in a ridiculous outfit, standing opposite you lot in equally stupid outfits and I'm supposed to fight you. Then there were those large versions of us overseeing the whole thing. Crazy!"

Izzy looked directly at her friend, "Do you understand what it means?"

Alyssa shrugged, raising an eyebrow,

"You gonna tell me anyway."

Izzy smiles slightly, glad to see her friend back to normal, "We're no longer alone." She tapped the Millennium Puzzle around her neck and nodded at Millennium Ring around Alyssa's neck, "Not anymore."

"I've know I'm not alone," Alyssa held up her cross necklace- the symbol of her faith and added, "Both you and I know that, but now-" Alyssa sat in silence as she watched the embers from the fire flicker. "I knew it," she concluded simply before she looked up at her friend and changed the subject completely, "How did we get out of that scrape anyway?"

Izzy opened her mouth in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that quite yet,

"Oh, Yami sorted it all out."

"Yami...?" Alyssa asked curiously.

Izzy shrugged slightly.

"He's the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle." She offered briefly, "I'll explain later." She indicated to where Simon and Cassie lay- still unconscious. She quickly changed the subject. "How long have you had the Millennium Ring?"

"Oh," Alyssa sighed deeply as she held the Ring up in one hand and scrutinized it, "Good question," She glanced across at her friend. "I think it must be about five or six years. I can't remember exactly, but it's never done anything this weird."

"The Spirit of the Ring said his name was Bakura." Izzy asked quietly, "Did you know about him."

Alyssa shook her head, as she released the Ring and it rested on her chest.

"No," she muttered truthfully, glancing at Izzy. " I didn't know that he existed."

They sat in silence.

From the other side of stump, there was a small groan.

"Oh, hello," Izzy smiled glanced across from where she and Alyssa were sitting as Cassie and Simon slowly sat up.

"What happened?" Cassie grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.

"You got knocked out," her sister said, grinning as she stood up and walked over to her sister.

What?" she blinked, "Seriously!"

Her sister nodded. Simon groaned as he too stood up.

"I have to admit that sounds much better that what I imagined."

"Which was...?"

"I was the Flame Swordsman and that you Izzy," he explained, pointing a finger at her before moving his finger to Alyssa. "And you Alyssa were dueling." He paused and added, "Only it wasn't you because you two were the Dark Magician and Strike Ninja.

Cassie nodded, glancing across at both Izzy and her sister.

"I had the same dream. Only I was the Mystical Elf."

Izzy and Alyssa shrugged.

"Sounds unbelievable."

"Almost delusional," Izzy said nodding, "But I guess a trip to the Shadow Realm can do that do you. My first trip was a little unsettling, but," she paused and added, " Mind you I did have other things on my mind at the time," She stopped realising that both Cassie and Simon were staring at her. "What...?"

"What's the Shadow Realm?" Simon demanded. "You mean that dream really happened?!"

"Opps."

Simon plowed on, "And you may want to explain why there bigger versions of you?"

"That I can explain, see this," Izzy tapped the Millennium Puzzle around her neck and continued, "This is the Millennium Puzzle. Inside it is the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. I call him Yami and he can take control of my mind.

"I'm also guessing," Alyssa interrupted suddenly, glancing from her sister to her friend as Cassie and Simon just blinked. "Bakura can do the same thing."

"Bakura...?

"Yeah," Izzy nodded, "He's the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. He's the one we were fighting against- not Alyssa." She looked at her friends. "Look I'm sorry, I didn't tell you about Yami," she paused allowing this to sink in before she continued, "but I didn't think you'd have believed me."

"Well," Simon said eventually, "I think that after that I'm more inclined to believe you."

"Me to," Cassie added, "I guess it explains why you two have been acting so weird recently."

The two nodded and they stood in silence for a few more moments, until they heard a scream then they heard the scream.

* * *

They followed the scream until they reached a clearing, hidden by the trees and another duel stadium still lit from a recent duel and next to it were two figures.

The larger on they did not recognise for they had never encountered him before. He was taller than most men and much wider too. He wore along purple coat hat was angular in design with small stripes of purple running down either side of his collar and a small circular piece of material sat on his head to cover his wild hair.

The smaller figure was rather petit compared to her companion as she fought with him. Her purple jacket was only just visible in the darkness and her long blond hair flapped in the breeze as she struggled to free herself from his grasp. They knew who it was; they had spoken to her earlier that day.

_"Mai,"_ Simon yelled as they began sprinting towards the pair. Turning around slightly, the man shrugged and released Mai's arm, laughing as he did so. Mai sank to her knees as he continued, "_Leave her alone!"_

Izzy knelt by her side.

_"Are you okay Mai?"_ She asked, touching the older woman's arm. Mai flinched and looked away. As she did so, her arm moved allowing Izzy to see her empty Gaunlet. "_What happened?"_

_"I happened,"_ the thug chuckled from behind them.

_"You,"_ Cassie yelped, _"But-"_

He smirked and raised his arms to reveal the double gauntlets that he wore.

_"I'm an Eliminator,"_ he sneered, _"Hired by Industrial Illusions to take out the weaker duelists on this island."_ He laughed and pointed at Mai, "_And I've just eliminated your friend- Mai Valentine from this tournament. Hey,"_ he snapped suddenly, pointing at Izzy's back_, "You're that kid- Izzy Corbey."_

During that little speech, Izzy and Yami had switched places.

_"What's it to you?"_ Yami snarled without looking up.

"_Out of all the duelists on the island, you're the one Pegasus put a price on. The Eliminator who can remove you from the tournament will be handsomely rewarded."_ He laughed, _" And I intend to claim that reward."_

_"Will you?"_ Yami spat, standing up suddenly. He didn't turn around.

_"Yes,"_ the thug sneered, _"And with you out of the way, I can get the Tournament Prize Money. You're the only that stands in my way!"_

Slowly Yami turned around. His eyes were glinting with rage and anger as they locked on to his opponent. The Eliminator took a step back in surprise

_"If you're so confident in your abilities,"_ he started to walk towards the stadium as he snarled, "_Then prove it to me in a duel."_

The Eliminator sniggered as he too made his way over to the stadium.

_"Don't!"_ Yami turned sharply to see Mai getting to her feet, speaking for the first time. _"Don't Izzy! You'll loose. He's ..." _She struggled to find the words._ "He used tricks on me and I lost. I don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to you."_

He smiled slightly,

_"Don't worry Mai,"_ he said as he moved over to the stadium to take his place, "_I'll win your starchips back."_ He began to remove all of his starchips from his gauntlet and place them next to his deck. _"I'll beat all eight of my starchips to get Mai's eight starchips back." _The two drew their hands and the duel began.

"_I'll go first, I'll play this- Castle of Dark Illusions "_ the Eliminator sneered as he played a card on the field. The field glowed slightly as the castle appeared, but as it floated in the air, a thick black fog rose from ground, completely covering the Eliminator's side of the field. _"Try and defeat the darkness."_ He cackled, _"It's impossible!"_

"_If Izzy can't see what she's fighting, then that's cheating."_ Simon yelled furiously from the side.

However, the matter didn't really seem to be bothering Yami that much.

_"I see it now. You sneak up duelists in the dark and when that doesn't work you use it to hide behind."_ Yami smirked slightly, waving a finger at the Eliminator. _"That means that you're nothing more than a coward!"_

That made the Eliminator mad. He kicked a button by his feet causing iron shackles to bind Yami's feet as flames shot up from the ground.

Yami barely even flinched as the flames danced around his head. As the flames died away, he folded his arms, raising his eyebrows as he said,

_"You finished?"_

The Eliminator glared at him,

_"How dare you!"_ he spat furiously, _"You'll pay for that!"_

Yami shrugged, _"I've helped in enough school plays to recognise cheap pyrotechnics when I see it."_

Mai looked at Simon inquisitively.

"School plays...?"

_"Lord of the Flies, last year," _he whispered back, _"Izzy was in charge of the props."_

Alyssa glanced across at Simon.

_"I seem to remember that she was in charge of bottle of red paint..._ Owhh! What was that for?" She demanded of Cassie who had just hit her sister as Yami continued.

_"I'm not afraid of the dark and I'm not afraid of you!"_

* * *

The stars twinkled as the turquoise ocean glittered below. A small school of brightly-coloured fish flickered back and forth just below the surface, their many colours slowly shimmering in the bright moonlight. A light wind skimmed the water, sending waves lapping over each other until the next breath of wind danced on the surface of the water.

Almost at once the harmony of the ocean was shattered by the grinding noise of the rotatory blades as a lone helicopter zoomed across the night's sky. Inside, the single occupant sat at the control panel, flicking switches, moving controls and barking commands into his headset.

Seto yanked the control stick to the right and the helicopter swerved to the right with the same force. The engines ground furiously as the helicopter continued its new course.

Kaiba Corparation was in chaos. In the few short days that he had been away, the other Board Members - The Big Five had soon their true colours. They were traitors- all of them. They had decided that it was in their favour to sell Kaiba Corparation and they'd decided to so without him. The person that they'd decided to sell it to was Maximillion Pegasus.

Between the six of them, they'd kidnapped his younger brother and bundled him off to Pegasus' little fantasy island and judging by the welcoming committee they'd sent him, they wanted him out of the way too- permanently.

And with him gone and Mokuba in their control, they could get away with anything, even murder- his murder.

He'd nearly lost Mokuba once; he wasn't going to do it again. Mokuba was all he had, and he wasn't going to lose him now.

"I'm coming for you, Mokuba," he muttered flicked a switch and barking a further command into his headset as the helicopter zoomed across the night's sky toward the Island

As the remains of the Reaper of the Card disintegrated and the King of Yammimikai disappeared into the shadows, Yami began to smirk. He waved a finger at Panik.

_"My turn,"_ he flipped his facedown card and added, "_Now I activate this- Swords of Revealing Light!"_

Beside the stadium Mai shook her head,

"_Why is she fighting him?"_ She said miserably, as Panik recoiled as swords of light illuminated the darkness, creating a circle around his castle, revealing his hiden monsters. _"I don't understand. She'll never win. Panik's unbeatable!"_

Alyssa raised her eyebrows

_"Didn't you say that about Seto Kaiba and Weevil Underwood? Izz beat them and she'll do the same to Panik."_ She said cheerfully as she glanced up at the three powerless creatures that Panik had on the field_." She won't give up."_ She paused and looked at Mai, _"So what are you in this tournament for Mai?_

_"Glory, I guess. Money and fame,"_ Mai shrugged as Panik drew a card, _"I wanted to duel Izzy but now I can't. I'm out of the tournament. "_

"_I activate this- Yellow Luster Shield,"_ Panik yelled, his voice growing even more desperate by the moment. _"And I activate it on Castle of Dark Illusions."_ They watched as Castle gave out a continual circular beam of light that surrounding Panik's monsters underneath it _"It boosts the defense of all my monster."_

"_Izzy doesn't want you to give up Mai."_ Simon said pointing at Yami, who seemed to be in the process of taunting his opponent. Panik was glaring furiously at him. _"That's why she's fighting for you."_

Mai was stunned. _"Me...?"_

Simon nodded._ "Yeah,"_ he smiled slightly, _"Izzy would probably slaughter me if I told you this, Izzy's brother- Mike is in hospital back home. Pegasus is the one who put him there and the only way we can save him is to beat Pegasus."_

_"Revenge...?"_ Mai asked curiously

Simon shook his head. _"No, rescue,"_ he sighed again as they watched Gaia the Fierce Knight and Curse of Dragon merged into Gaia the Dragon Champion._ "Izzy thinks a lot of you Mai. She won't give up on you, so you don't give up on her.."_

On the stadium, Panik was starting to panic. How dare this little punk

_"I activate this- Metal Guardian, DEFENCE MODE."_ he sneered, allowing himself the luxury of smiling. This duel was done. He folded his arms, _"You're finished!"_

Yami just smirked and waved his finger at Panik again.

_"You're nothing more than a coward, Panik. "_ He selected a card from his hand and placed it on the field, _"I activate Catapult Turtle,"_ He paused and added, _"I load Gaia the Dragon Champion on the Catapult and aim to fire at my target."_

_"It's no use,"_ Panik cried hysterically as Gaia the Dragon Champion positioned itself on the Catapult, _"My monsters are protected by Yellow Luster Shield. Its defense is strong enough to stop your Catapult Turtle where it stands."_

Yami folding his arms, smirked again,

_"Who said anything about firing at your monsters?"_ he said as he pointed at the Castle of Dark Illusions, _"I'm attacking the castle."_

The sweat that had been sitting on Panik's forehead trickled down, as Yami ordered Gaia the Dragon Champion to be launched at its target.

On impact, Gaia vaporised, taking with him the yellow band that has surrounded the castle.

Panik was silent for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"_You fool,"_ he scoffed, _"You destroyed the external flotation device, but not the castle. You didn't touch it! And at the end of this turn the Swords of Revealing..."_ Panik's voice trailed off as the Castle of Dark Illusions started to tilt before him eyes, _"No,"_ he denied, shouting, _"It's impossible!"_

_"Oh, think again,"_ Yami chuckled, "_You said it yourself, I destroyed the flotation device. Look! "_ He gestured at the castle and the creature beneath it. _"The Swords of Revealing Light was the only thing that and at the end of my turn they will disappear,"_ he paused and chuckled again. _"The castle will fall, crushing your monsters!" _

And being Yami, that's exactly what happened.

A/N: Once again I apologise for the lateness. Please review


	11. Riddles in the Dark

**A/N: Whoo! 16 whole pages and I hope you enjoy them.**

_Dedication - Waffles4eva - the greatest best friend I could I ever have._

**_"Italics"_ - Speaking Japanese (Sorry for any confusion in any previous chapters)**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or anything else that seems vaguely copyrighted**

Chapter Ten - Riddles in the Dark

The lights on the stadium dimmed as Izzy made her way over to the others. Simon and Alyssa bounded over to her and thumped her on the back.

"Brilliant!"

Izzy scowled as she rubbed her back where Alyssa had aimed a particularly hard thump.

"Yeah, well..."

"Oh come on," Simon dismissed, "That was awesome Izz, and even you have to admit it!"

//I'll take that as a compliment,// Yami said wryly.

Izzy smiled slightly. She closed her eyes.

/I know what they mean,/ she said quietly. /You were fantastic./

She could almost sense Yami smiling inside her mind,

//I guess, but I think there's something to do first. //

Izzy flickered her eyes down to the eight star-chips in her hand. While Simon and Alyssa continued to argue amongst themselves, Izzy finally noticed that Mai was stood awkwardly to the side.

"Izzy..."

"Mai," Izzy said, holding out the star-chips, "These belong to you."

Mai stared at them and shook her head.

"I can't," she muttered quietly, "I can't Izzy. You won them. I can't accept them." She blinked, looking away.

Izzy rolled her eyes slightly.

"Yes, you can," the girl insisted, placing them into Mai's hand, "These are yours." She looked at the eight star chips in palm of her hand, blinking as she held them, "How can I ever repay you?"

"You owe me nothing," Izzy smiled at her, "We're friends." Mai smiled too, fitting her chips back in her gauntlet.

"I'll see you around," Mai said cheerfully, hoisting her bag back on her back.

"I'm sure you will," Izzy nodded as Mai waved at them all and disappeared into the forest.

"Well," Alyssa whistled as the last of Mai's footsteps died away, "Tonight's becoming a quite an eventful night." She started counting her fingers. "First, the Millennium Items." She counted a second finger, "Then that Game." She counted a third finger, "Now this stuff with Panik and Mai - all in the space of a hour." She concluded happily, grinning. "Brilliant!"

"I'm tired," Cassie grumbled, yawning slightly, "Can't we go and get some sleep, like normal people?"

* * *

The rest of the night past without incident, and as usual Alyssa was awake at least two hours before everyone. 

She smiled slightly at her sleeping companions. Cassie was curled up next to the tree stump while Simon and Izzy were sleeping against a couple of trees. Every so often, someone snored- most of them coming from the direction of Izzy. She sighed, at least their dreams couldn't harm them, like they had her.

She held up the Millennium Ring and shook her head. It ought to have been impossible. They were only dreams, but they had felt so real to her. It seemed as real as the voice, yet she knew now that that voice had been real. The voice had haunted her for years; ever since she had received the Millennium Ring from her aunt. It had started as a small whisper- urging her to do things that she would never dream of, and then there were the times where she had blacked out. The times when she would wake up and not remember what she had been doing.

Her nightmares had become steadily more violent and devastating over the years; what she didn't want to admit was that most nights she would wake, terrified. Cassie and Izzy just thought that she just didn't sleep. Although in recent years, she had grown used to it, it was the fact that sometimes she was too afraid to sleep, knowing what awaited while she slept.

She shook her head again. He was gone now- in the Shadow Realm and there the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle had said he would remain. But something deep inside of her told her otherwise- this was not the end.

It was not the end of Spirit of the Millennium Ring. She was certain that this would only be the beginning.

Sighing, Alyssa tried to dislodge her dreary thoughts as she let go of the Ring and pulled out her book and a torch.

* * *

About three hours later and three hundred yards away, three figures were perched precariously on a cliff. Two of them who were very much taller than the third and were staring through binoculars; the shorter one who sat on a rock, getting steadily more bored by the minute. All three were wearing Duel Gauntlets and they had in been sitting on that cliff for about twenty minutes in silence, before one of them at last broke it. "Aren't we supposed to be doing what Keith told us- getting people to duel?" The smaller one asked, folding his arms, "Only we've been sitting here for ages." 

The 'Keith' to whom he was referring was an American by the name of Bandit Keith. He was a champion duelist- claiming the title of American Champion for a number of years. He would still have that title today, if it had not been for Maximillion Pegasus. "Give me that," the short one continued, snatching the binoculars from his friend, "There's a perfect opportunity right there." He pointed below to where Izzy and her friends were sitting. "Look! His companions followed his finger. 

"Huh," one of them scoffed, "Only two of them have Gauntlets and they're girls as well." 

His friend laughed and slapped him on the back. 

"Star chips for the taking," he laughed, "We'll be at the Castle in no time." 

The shrimp looked back through the binoculars, "I hate to burst your bubbles, but one of them is that kid- Izzy Corbey." 

"So should we grab her?" 

The small one shook his head. 

"But Keith said..." The taller one argued. 

The shrimp snorted. 

"I know very well what Keith said," he put his eyes back to the binoculars, " But I don't fancy getting my butt kicked by a girl." 

"But we've got Keith on our side- He wouldn't let her beat us!" 

"Still, I don't like that." The smaller one pointed out, "The last guy said that he'd spoken to someone who heard that she hasn't lost yet." 

The others considered the idea for a moment, then nodded. 

" But what about her friend- the other girl?" 

The shrimp grinned. 

" She'll do just fine." 

* * *

Izzy yawned. She had been dreamed of her warm and cozy bed with her teddy bear siting on her pillow. His arms opened wide welcoming her back to her room. 

This, however, did not feel warm, or cozy and there were no open arms for her. All Izzy felt was cold and hard bark against her head.

Blearily, she opened one eye, then the other to find Simon and Cassie sitting by the camp fire while Alyssa was sitting with her back to a tree with her nose in a book.

"Morning," Izzy muttered groggily as she sat up.

"Good morning," Simon said turning to her, offering her a warmish flask, "Tea?"

Izzy closed her eyes again as the warmish liquid slipped down her throat,

"You know you've never been a morning person," Alyssa said, conversationally leaning over.

Izzy was too tired to glare at her friend

"What about you?"

"Oh, I've been up hours," Alyssa, said cheerfully- far too cheerily for this early in the morning.

Izzy raised her eyebrows.

"Really? What have you been doing?" She demanded still holding the flask in her hands.

Rolling her eyes, Alyssa waved the 'I Robot' book and the torch at her friend. "Oh," Izzy muttered.

"I had to do something while you three slept." She said, shoving her book back in her bag, "And now that you're awake, I'm going for a walk."

"Why?" Cassie asked, looking up from the fire and the bacon she was trying to cook.

"I wanna go for a walk," her sister shrugged before adding, "I'll be back later. Just make sure you leave me some food."

And with that she wandered out of clearing, leaving the three remaining rather bewildered.

She walked a far a distance from the campsite before she final stopped. She turned around, allowing her smile to slip from her face.

Then, just as morning light broke over the top of the trees, a sharp crisp noise interrupting the silence- echoing through the clearing as a young fledgling broke free from his nest; diving down to the ground before it swooped back up- singing to the morning. It was incredible.

This Island was supposed to be beautiful. A place where nature and man could coexist peacefully together. It was kind of a paradise, but Pegasus had changed that- now this Island was nothing more than a place of shattered dreams.

Sighing, she turned around again to return to the others.

At the corner of her eye, Alyssa noticed a flicker of black The next thing she knew, she was being grappled. She struggled: fighting with all her might against her opponent until eventually, the darkness swallowed her completely.

* * *

Three thousands miles away, a girl was sat in her pajamas at her dining room table, sipping a warm mug of hot chocolate and munching a shortbread biscuit, while her dog sat at her feet, ready to hoover up any crumbs that would fall to the floor. 

She barely looked up as the front door opened; only looking up as her mother entered the room, holding a newspaper in one hand and cup of coffee. She smiled up at her.

"Hi Mum. Did you have a good day at work?"

"Oh, the usual," her mum dismissed, as she sat down at the table, brandishing the newspaper in her left hand. "Isn't one of your friends interested in Egypt?

Jenny nodded. "Yeah- that would be Izzy. Why?"

"Well, there's an article in today's newspaper she might find interesting," her mother continued as she handed over the newspaper, "Where are your friends anyway?"

Jenny shrugged as she scanned the article her mother showed her, "Don't know, I haven't heard from anyone lately. Sam went with her parents to Wales and I have no idea where Izzy is and come to mention it, Alyssa too. Probably fallen of the end of the Earth, knowing them. "

The article was about some new discovery in Egypt. A stone tablet, the article claimed had been discovered and from what the experts could only really decipher a few hieroglyphs- something about Shadows.

Jenny shuddered slightly as she finished the article- now that looked interesting.

* * *

Alyssa slowly opened her eyes and blinked- still slightly disoriented from when those idiots had rugby-tackled her. It was pitch-black- she could belay see her own hands in front of her, and she shivered as a cold wind blew from somewhere. 

She sighed and moved forwards, walking straight into something- hard. She groped forwards- trying to find her way through the dark. She squinted through her glasses in an attempt to see where she was. She knew that her eyesight had always been bad, but in this light it was almost impossible.

Then, at last a sound echoed across the cavern

"Welcome to the graveyard," someone taunted from the shadows. She blinked again as a bright light flooded the cavern, revealing the three figures who were smirking at her and another one who was leering at her from across the Duel stadium.

Three of them were clearly Duelists- wearing Gauntlets. Two were standing by the edge of the stadium, laughing at her while the shortest of the four stood at the other end of the stadium, preparing to duel. The tallest man who was sitting in a little hole on the cavern wall wore no gauntlet, but he emitted a sense of pride and arrogance.

"I'm Bonz," the shrimp cackled, waving a finger at Alyssa, "And welcome to your worst nightmare. Here you'll meet the tormented souls of those who have been forced to wander the earth."

She flickered her eyes over the stadium. The field was one that was straight out of a horror film. It was like you would expect a classic graveyard. The ground was grey with dust and decay while the gravestones were worn away with years of neglect. You could faintly see where the crosses had been.

Alyssa closed her eyes and began to chant,

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." Her faith hadn't failed her before. It wasn't going to fail her now. She opened her eyes and drew five cards from her deck. She grinned at Bonz, "Let's play!"

* * *

Izzy sighed for umpteenth time as she pushed her way through the branches. Alyssa had wandered off twenty minutes ago and still hadn't come back. She'd said she was only going for a wander and that she would be back for Breakfast. A breakfast was now stone cold. 

They had split up to try and find her- Simon going to check the stadiums and Izzy and Cassie to see if Alyssa had simply gotten lost. So far, the search wasn't going too well.

Suddenly, Izzy's pocket vibrated, cutting her thoughts in two. Sighing, Izzy fished out her phone and read the new message. It was from Jenny back in England.

**Hi. Been an Egyptian discovery - a tablet. Thought u might wanna know. Hpe u havin gr8 time on hol. Will c u soon. Jen**

"Egypt, huh?" Yami commented, reading over her shoulder, "Are you interested in that, then."

Izzy raised her eyebrows- what happen to the privacy thing, anyway?

"As a matter of fact, yeah," she shrugged, slipping the phone back in her pocket. Ever since I was small, Egypt has fascinated me" She smiled slightly at the memory, "I think I must have driven my parents mad with all the books and programs I made them watch and read."

Yami raised his eyebrows.

"I can imagine," Then he added, "While we're looking for her, how do you think Alyssa's coping with the Millennium Ring?"

Izzy's mind flickered back to last night and that Shadow Game. She involuntarily shivered at the memory.

"I don't know," she admitted quietly, "I honestly don't know, but it does explain something."

"Yes," Yami nodded urging her to continue which she did,

"Remember that night I solved the Millennium Puzzle and met you," She paused, "Well, earlier that day, Alyssa went crazy on me- something happened to her and she was in pain- a lot of pain. When I asked her if she was okay, she snapped at me. Only, Alyssa had never snapped at me in her whole life. She was like a different person in that single moment- one that I didn't know." She paused and looked up at Yami, adding, "Because it wasn't her, was it Yami? It was the Spirit of the Millennium Ring."

Yami nodded again, "It probably..."

But before Yami could finish his sentence, the trees moved. Izzy jumped and he quickly disappeared back into the Puzzle as Simon and Cassie emerged from the trees.

"Nothing," Simon admitted as they approached Izzy, "Absolutely nothing. We can't find her anywhere- we've looked everywhere."

"She can't have just disappeared," Cassie protested, looking at Izzy for reassurance. "She just can't! I mean..."

//Izzy?// Yami interrupted suddenly, appearing again. //Isn't that her necklace?// Izzy looked to where he was pointing. It was entrance to some kind of underground cave, but it was the small object that glinted in the sunlight that had caught his attention- a small circular object on a black cord.

It was Alyssa's necklace- the only one that she owned and she would never willingly hand it over. Someone had taken her by force.

"Simon, Cassie," Izzy shouted as she picked up the small cross necklace, "Over here."

* * *

The Castle was deserted. The place was as silent as the grave. All of guards, it appeared had gone off duty which meant that it was a whole lot easier for him to sneak around the grounds without getting caught. 

Flying the helicopter single-handedly had been easy and so had sneaking into the Castle. It had seemed to involve running through the forest and scaling the Castle wall. Now came the hard part- finding the place in this dark and dreary castle where Pegasus had Mokuba.

And knowing Pegasus, that task would take most of the night.

A sudden noise at the end of the corridor caused Seto to jump into alcove.

The two guard had just come off their respective shifts and going to search of a well-earnt meal.

"Is that kid still refusing to eat?" One of the guards asked. His companion nodded

"Yeah, Mr. Pegasus ordered me to take his meal to the dungeons. His plate was untouched."

Problem solved. Mokuba was in the dungeons.

The two guards were easy to deal with- one sharp collision with a metal briefcase and they would be out cold till morning. Giving him enough time to rescue Mokuba and get out again.

Unfortunately, things are never that simple.

Seto made his way down to the dungeons uneducated or so he thought. In reality, Pegasus was well aware of his intruder and was already making his own down there.

Seto knelt at the cell door. His brother was sitting in the cage

"Seto," Mokuba whispered, slowly raising his head at the sound of his brother's voice, smiling slightly at his brother, "I knew you would come."

"I'll get you out of here," Seto promised as he fiddled with the lock. "I pro-"

"Ah," Pegasus said smiling widely, as he descended the dungeon steps. Seto jumped to his feet. "So good that you could finally join us," Pegasus continued as he drew level with Seto.

"I know you want Kaiba Corporation and you kidnapped my little brother." Seto said firmly, glaring at Pegasus, not quivering for a moment. Now let him go!"

"I thought you might," Pegasus held up his hair to reveal a sinister golden eye. Seto shivered just as Izzy had done only a few days ago, as he too saw the solid gold eye that stared back at him. There was a loud yell and Seto turned sharply to see his brother slump to the floor.

"No!" Seto yelled furiously, grabbing the bars of the cell, "What have you done? He rounded on Pegasus.

"Be assured your brother is safe - for now," he said, echoing the words he had said to Izzy. He held up a Duel Monster Card and where the picture of the monster should have been, there was a picture of Mokuba.

"You-" Seto couldn't even think of a word to describe him, grabbing Pegasus by the throat.

"Ah, ah, ah," he smirked, "You're not in any position to demand anything."

"What do you want?"

"You must defeat me in a duel,"

"Right here," Seto snarled, almost spitting in Pegasus' face. "Right now!"

Pegasus laughed, "My dear Kaiba-boy, don't think you're getting off that easily. I don't think you deserve it. But if you really want to duel me," Pegasus smirked as Seto released his throat, "You'll have to prove yourself first."

Seto scowled. "Anything. I'll do anything to save Mokuba."

"I'm surprised at you Kaiba-boy." Pegasus chuckled lightly, waving a finger. "I thought you of all people could work it out." He paused and Seto glared at him again. "Your dear friend, Izzy Corbey is on my Island. You must defeat her in a duel, before you can even think about dueling me!"

* * *

"Where are we?" Cassie asked again. 

"Dunno, somewhere under the Island, I guess."

"That's so helpful," Cassie snapped sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Somewhere."

"Hey," Izzy said turning around, "Pegasus didn't exactly give me a map. It's not my fault."

Simon sighed, "The only reason we're down here is find Alyssa," he reasoned eventually. "Then we can get out of here!"

"It's cold and wet and miserable," Cassie complained as she leaned against the cave wall. "I'm tired". She blinked. "Is that a boulder?" She asked suddenly.

Izzy and Simon looked at her incredulously.

"What?" Simon demanded. "Where?"

"There." She pointed at the large boulder that was careering towards them at a high speed.

"Run!" Izzy yelped as she began sprinting back down the tunnel. The other two didn't need telling twice as they legged it after her.

They ran for a good distance until the sound of rocks crashing stooped. Carefully they turned around.

"Wait a second," Simon paused, glaring at the boulder which had lodged itself in the tunnel, "That's plastic!"

"I think you're right," Izzy muttered as she tapped it. It made a hollow echoing sound. "Yep, it's plastic," she agreed.

Simon shrugged and put his fist through the boulder. It exploded on impact leaving the tunnel free from obstructions.

"That was pathetic," Cassie grinned at them, "But cool! I thought it was gonna squish"

"We better pick up the pace." Izzy sighed, nodded at the tunnel, "Come on."

A few minuets later, they rounded a corner and found a duel stadium and the one they had been looking for.

She was standing on this edge of stadium arguing with a tall man who was wearing a jacket and an US bandana on his head- three others were cowering behind him.

"You sleazy..." Alyssa was yelling at him.

"Allie," Cassie running

She looked up at them,

"Oh, hi," she grinned, "What took ya so long?"

"Oh, nothing," Izzy said, smiling at her friend.

The men decided that they would take advantage of this distraction to make a hasty retreat. Unfortunately, not fast enough.

"Oi," Alyssa yelled spinning back to him, "Howard, where do ya think you're going? I haven't finished with you yet!"

"The name is Bandit Keith," he spat at her, "And you would do well to remember it!"

"Bandit Keith- isn't that that American Champion who was on television last year." Simon whispered.

"I calls you what I what," Alyssa plowed on, "You're the one who dragged me down here and forced me to duel your idiot," She pointed at Bonz who glared at her, "Which I'll have you know I won," she glanced at Izzy.

"Whatever, Shrimp," Keith scoffed as he disappeared around the corner with his cronies following at his heels.

"But Bonz is smaller than me," she called after them. "Git," She said calmly, turning back to her friends smiling, "We better get a move on, too. This place is getting a little claustrophobic."

"Did he really drag you down here?" Cassie asked her sister as they walked back up the tunnel.

"He didn't," Alyssa, said cheerfully, "They did. I had to fight Bonz- the little one. He had a Zombie deck and Keith was helping him."

"Was that why you were yelling at him- they were cheating?"

"Yeah that, and the fact they were annoying me!"

"You lost this by the way," Izzy interrupted eventually, pulling the necklace out of her pocket. "It was outside the cave." She held it out to her friend, "Thought you might want it back,"

"Thanks," Alyssa grinned as she held it up, "I wondered where that had gotten to." She broke off suddenly, "Hey!" She yelled, running forwards to the entrance where a large 'real' boulder was. At the edge was Keith's grinning face,

"See you in a couple of years, losers." With that the rock rolled in place, sealing them in the tunnel and making Keith's face disappeared.

"You..." Simon made an angry gesture at the rock

"Simon," Yami said, sharply, "Don't rise to his bait." He stared back down the tunnel. "We'll find another way out."

"Yep," Alyssa agreed, nodded holding out the Millennium Ring, "Thatta way!" She pointed down the tunnel,"

The three of them stared at her,

"You're actually using that thing?!" Simon demanded,

"That thing is evil," Yami, said darkly, "You know that?"

Alyssa nodded.

"I know," she began walking down the tunnel, "But what other choice do we have?"

The others glanced at each other and shrugged.

* * *

The Millennium Ring led them back through the tunnel to the stadium and from there, a small side-passage that took them into a smaller tunnel where the walls became smooth and straight. 

"This is marble," Cassie pointed out as her fingertips traced the smooth cold walls. "It's just like the fireplace at home."

Alyssa nodded as she stopped at a fork.

"I know," she held the Ring up again, "Okay Ring," she whispered, "Which way?" The spikes on the Ring hovered for a moment, before swinging to the left. Alyssa turned back to Yami. "I guess we go left."

The Ring then took them right, and then left and left again, then right, then left and left again.

"Blimey," Simon whistled to Yami as they rounded another corner. "This place is like a maze... Hey," he yelled as he collided with Alyssa. "Why are we stopping?"

"Because we've reached the end," she answered quietly, turning back to him.

They had reached a large room with whitewashed walls. In the middle of the room was a large stadium much like the others they had seen; only this one was different. This one had four playing areas- one in each corner. On the wall facing them were two doors- one had the symbol 'Mei' on it and on the other was the symbol 'Kyû'.

"Meikyû means labyrinth," Alyssa explained as she stuffed the Ring back in her bag. She stood up and nodded at Yami, "After you."

He stepped cautiously into the room and fell silent.

"Something's moving in here," he said eventually, turning his head back to them. He turned sharply, "We're not alone."

No sooner had he said that two bald identically clothed men emerged- albeit one was dressed in green while the other was dressed in orange- and started to back-flip around the room.

"What is this?" Cassie grumbled as they finished their routine. "A circus!"

The two men held their hands together as if praying and bowed their heads revealing both the two symbols on their foreheads and their Duel Gauntlets.

_"Greetings travellers,"_ the first one said. _"We are the Paradox brothers."_

_"We are the Guardians of the Labyrinth,"_ his brother added, _"I am Para."_

_"And I am Dox,"_ the first one finished, "_You are lost travellers in our Labyrinth."_

_"Behind us are two doors of old,"_ Para continued pointing at the two doors, _"One will take you to your goal. The other will lose you in our maze."_

_"If you want to learn the right door..."_

_"If you want to learn the right way..."_

_"You must face us in a duel,"_ the brothers announced in unison. They then starting back-flipping around the room again.

Yami waited patiently for them to finish, before accepting their challenge.

_"Fine,"_ he replied calmly. _"I accept."_

Para shook his head,

_"Of this you do not understand,"_ he recited, _"To find your way from here,"_

_"You must duel us both,"_ Dox finished, _"One more duelist- this will be a tag-team duel."_

Yami shrugged and tilted his head back slightly.

"Alyssa. You up for it?"

She grinned back at him, drawing her deck from her pocket,

"I'd be delighted."

_"How many star chips will you bet?"_ Dox asked as all four took their positions and drew their hands.

_"Two for me,"_ Alyssa muttered, pulling them from her Gauntlet.

_"Just the one for me,"_ Yami added, putting on of his on the table. "_Then we both have enough star chips to get into Pegasus's Castle."_

_"We can match that,"_ the Paradox Brothers smirked at each other.

_"Then let us begin." _Para said, selecting a card from his hand and activating it. _"Labyrinth Walls."_ From the left hand corner, walls began springing up around the stadium, creating a labyrinth on the arena.

"Is that allowed?" Cassie asked curiously, eyeing the maze.

Simon nodded,

_"I think so,"_ he glanced up at Yami and Alyssa. _"I think it's like one of those field bonuses- that's all." _

_"Now let us explain the rules,"_ Para continued, _"We all have 4000 life points, but your fate is tied to that of your partner." _

_"If they die, you die,"_ Dox added, with a laugh, "_Play will alternate one duelist on each team."_ The Brothers smirked again.

_"Behind us are the doors you seek,"_ Para explained, _"But first you must pass through the labyrinth. When your monster are in ATTACK MODE, you may move them up to the number of spaces that is equal to the level of your monster."_

_"So it's sorta like chess, then,"_ Cassie interjected.

_"How do we know that you're not lying about the doors?"_ Alyssa demanded, glaring at them.

"_That is an excellent question,"_ Para nodded,_ "So in this task, we will help you. From this point, one of us will only speak a lie,"_

_"...And the other will only tell the truth,"_ Dox finished for his brother. _"I promise you mine is the right one."_

_"Do not listen to him,"_ his brother argued, _"The door you seek is mine."_

Alyssa folded her arms and raised her eyebrows,

_"Just to check,"_ she asked, "_If I were to ask you both to point at the correct door, which would you point at?"_ Without so much as a hesitation, the Paradox Brother both pointed at the door with the 'Mei' symbol on it. _"So Dox is the liar."_

_"It appears that way,"_ Yami nodded as he drew a card from his deck, _"But for the time being, we'll continue with the Duel."_ He selected a card from his hand and placed it on the field. _"Ancient Elf - ATTACK MODE."_

The purple-clad elf rose from the ground and waited for his orders, which Yami was only to happy to give. _"Move four spaces into the Labyrinth."_

_"My turn,"_ Dox held up two cards, _"I play Polymerisation and merge Shadow Ghoul with the Labyrinth itself,"_ the monster melted into the wall of the Labyrinth, "Now where we," he paused, _"Ah, yes, Wall Shadow- Attack Ancient Elf."_

* * *

"I don't trust them," Izzy said, stubbornly, glaring at the Paradox Brothers through the window in the wall. 

She and Yami were back in the room with the black swirling walls that still seemed to give the illusion of eternity.

"I agree," Yami nodded, "I don't trust them either. They both said one of them would lie and the other would tell the truth from that point, but if that were true, both of them would have claimed to be honest."

"And when Alyssa asked that question about their doors- they didn't speak." She looked across at Yami, "So strictly speaking, neither of them told a lie." She paused, shaking her head. "Tell you what," Izzy said eventually, "You concentrate on winning this duel with Alyssa and I'll try and figure at this stupid riddle of theirs."

Yami nodded, agreeing with her idea.

"That might work."

She smiled at him,

"I'll talk to you later," she called as he faded away. "Good Luck."

Sighing, Izzy sat down on the floor and began scribbling things down in notebook that appeared in her hand.

* * *

Both Alyssa and Yami had two monsters each; all monsters were together. Their opponents had one visible monster- Labyrinth Tank, but they had something under the field too that couldn't be seen and they more life points to boot. 

It was Dox's turn,

_"I play Magical Labyrinth,"_ he announced as the walls of the Labyrinth started to shift and change. _"We'll stop your teamwork in its tracks."_ When the walls stopped moving, Yami and Alyssa were able to get a good look at the new layout. It wasn't good- their monsters had been separated by a wall, _"I end my turn,"_ Dox finished smugly.

Alyssa, whose turn it was, was not fazed at all by this,

_"I can't reach Izzy so I'll just have to go it alone,"_ she yelled dramatically, pointing at the end of the maze, _"Okay, troops move out." _

Cassie rolled her eyes.

"That's Alyssa for ya," she sighed, "Going in all guns blazing." She tilted her head slightly, "She's gonna get shot," she said in a singsong voice that eerily reminded Simon of the old Disney films.

"You have so much faith in your sister," he retorted sarcastically, shaking his head, "But if it works..."

_"You stepped on our trap,"_ Dox yelled suddenly as Rapid Horseman stepped on a empty space. A giant spider appeared and attacked her monster. It swallowed her monster with a slight burp. _"Your Rabid Horsemen is dead."_ He laughed as his brother took his turn.

"Told you so," Cassie grinned at Simon. He just shrugged.

_"Labyrinth Tank, move seven spaces,"_ Para smirked as the monster lined up with Alyssa's monster, _"Next turn your Strike Ninja will be dead."_

_"Not if I can help it,"_ Yami interrupted, _"As it is my turn, I activate Magical Boxes."_ A box - rather like the ones you see at Magic Shows appeared next to the Dark Magician who jumped backwards into it and the door slammed shut behind it. Razor sharp swords then pierced the box- the monster in it was surely dead.

The Paradox Brothers couldn't believe it,

_"But you destroyed your own monster!"_

Yami raised his eyebrows as the box next to Strike Ninja swung open,

_"Did I...?"_ The Dark Magician leaped out completely unscathed.

_"But then...?"_

_"What happened?"_

Yami just smiled as the another box they had not noticed opened revealing, a skewed Jirai Gumo.

_"They switched places?"_ Para asked incredulously, _"But...?_

_"We work as a team,"_ Yami replied, simply as Dark Magician attacked and destroyed Labyrinth Tank, _"We made a promise that nothing would stop us."_

_"This is what our teamwork can do,"_ Alyssa said chuckling as Dark Magician and the Strike Ninja stood side-by side, _"We'll win this duel by working together_."

* * *

"Well, that was easy," Bandit Keith said to himself as he strolled up towards the Castle. 

After sealing the twerps in the cave, he had demanded that Bonz and his friends handed over payment. A few punches later and he had the Gauntlet and the 10 star-chips that he needed to get into the Castle.

His ears began ringing with the sound of an excited crowd as his memory of that day swirled.

It was suppose to have been his moment of glory- the moment when he would take down Maximillion Pegasus on Live TV. He had planned it for month- every move and every possible countermove that Pegasus could have made; he knew them all. he only thing he had not been prepared for was what Pegasus had actually done.

Everything was ready, the cameras were rolling and Pegasus stared at him- scribbling something down on a piece of paper. Then of all things, he pulled a kid over from the audience- a little nobody and said this squirt would duel in his place.

The squirt had won with three moves- all of which were written down on the paper Pegasus had been scribbling on. He had humiliated him and he would never forget or forgive him.

"I'm coming for you Pegasus." Keith swore as he reached the top of the stairs. "I'll make you pay for humiliating me."

"What the heck is that thing?" Cassie demanded as the giant orange, green and blue creature finished glowing. "I've never seen anything like that before."

_"This is our Gate Guardian,"_ Dox explained smugly, _"Created by combining Suijuin, Kazejin and Sanga of Thunder."_

_"Given to us by Mister Pegasus, himself,"_ Para added._ "And since I used my turn to summon him, it's your turn, Izzy."_

Yami selected three cards from his hand and placedthem face down on the field,

_"I also activate Curse of Dragon,"_ he announced as the yellow dragon materialised and screeched to the heavens, _"With that I'll end my turn."_

Dox laughed,

"_Kazejin - attack that pesky Ninja with Thunder Bolt."_ Obedient, Kazejin launched the bolt at the monster before it.

_"I activate this,"_ Yami snapped, holding up Mirror Force, _"This will throw your attack straight back at you."_

_"Our Guardian can reflect the attack,"_ Dox dismissed, _"Use Reflection!"_

Yami was still smirking as the barrier faded,

_"Your other monster isn't so fortunate, though,"_ he nodded at the sizzled Monster Trainer.

_"Now it's my turn,"_ Alyssa grinned, _"I activate Axe of Despair and attach it to Strike Ninja."_ She smirked at them as a large axe materialised in Strike Ninja's hands, _"Let's show them how we do it back home!"_

_"It's no use,"_ Para sniggered, _"Reflect!"_ he ordered, grinning as the attack was reflected. _"Suijin, use Aqua Wave."_ The resulting attack surged like a tide through the Labyrinth.

The Dark Magician was safe- concealed under the Magical Hats but Strike Ninja was not so lucky. The wave crashed into him and it destroyed him

Alyssa's life points dropped from 3600 to 2300 as her Strike Ninja was swept away by Suijin's attack.

_"My turn,"_ Yami smirked, holding a card in his hand, _"Strike Ninja didn't die in vain;_ _I'll follow his footsteps with Summoned Skull."_

"Yes!" Simon said cheerfully as the demonic creature appeared, "Water conducts electricity."

"We can attack without walking through the Labyrinth," Cassie pointed out with a wide grin on her face.

_"Lightening Strike!"_

_"It's useless,"_ Para shouted as the bolt of electricity came near and nearer. _"Suijin- Reflection!"_

Yami waved his finger,

_"Not quite,"_ he nodded at the Gate Guardian, _"When you flooded the field, you activated my trap- Spell Binding Circle."_ A glowing ring of light appeared around the Guardian- stopping it from moving._ "You can't move." _Yami noted with a smile.

It was true- they couldn't. When Summoned Skull's attack hit Suijin and fried it to a crisp, there was nothing that the Paradox Brothers could do until their next turn.

_"I activate De-spell,"_ Dox slammed the card down on the field, _"To get rid of your Spell Binding Circle."_ The Ring disappeared with a slight fizzle, freeing the Gate Guardian,_ "I end my turn."_

Alyssa glanced across at Yami. He nodded - he was thinking the same thing.

_"I use polymerisation,"_ She held the card up, _"To fuse the Gaia the fierce Knight in my hand with Izzy's Curse of Dragon on the Field,"_ The two creature began swirling together in orb of multicolored energy as she continued, "_Together they create the mighty Gaia the Dragon Champion." _

Gaia the Dragon Champion emerged from the swirl of colours.

The Paradox Brothers watched and waited for the colours to fade before they both burst out laughing.

_"Your creature is still a dragon,"_ Para smirked as he drew from his deck, "_And can not pass through the Labyrinth. It is my turn."_ He showed them his card, "_I activate this - Final Flame. It delivers 600 points of direct damage to my opponent,"_ he paused as two rather large fireball came careering towards both Alyssa and Yami, _"Since I have two opponents, you both lose 600 life points each,"_ he finished as the balls of fire struck the playing fields.

Alyssa's life points slipped to 2700 while Yami's went down to 2450.

"_I advance Dark Magician seven spaces out of the maze."_ Yami stated unfazed, as his monster leaped up from the Magical Hats and reached the end of the Labyrinth.

The brothers burst out laughing again,

_"Our Gate Guardian will destroy your Dark Magician."_

_"You have killed your own monster,"_ Para sniggered.

_"Before I end my turn,"_ Yami said quickly, _"I'll activate Monster Reborn to bring back one of your monsters to defend us."_

Dox snorted at him,

_"No monster can stop us," _he gloated as the white lights began flickering on the field, _"Gate Guardian destroy Dark Magician!"_ Unfortunately, that was his downfall- he had not looked to see which monster had been resurrected and so when a wave of water blocked the Guardian's attack, he was most surprised. _"Suijin?!"_ Dox demanded as the wave settled, _"You brought HIM back from the grave?!"_

Yami nodded, smirking at the completed Guardian,

"_Suijin reunites with his brothers, but it protects us."_

_"Fine,"_ Dox spat, glaring at him, _"I'll end my turn."_

_"Then I'll take my go,"_ Alyssa said, drawing another card. She paused momentarily, before she selected a card from her hand, "_I activate Megamorph which doubles the ATTACK strength of Gaia the Dragon Champion,"_ she grinned at them as Gaia grew in size, _"Something that is well worth half of my life points,"_ She added as they ticked down to 1350, _"With that I end my turn."_

The Paradox Brothers glared at her.

_"Kazejin destroy Suijin,"_ Para ordered as the top part of the Guardian fried the bottom with a lightening bolt. _"You have nowhere else to hid. Your Dark Magician will be dead!"_

Yami snorted,

_"Oh, really,"_ he flipped his first face down card up, _"Horn of the Unicorn will increase our Gaia to 5900 ATTACK points."_

_"Still won't work,"_ Para said smugly, _"It is still a dragon!"_

Yami just laughed.

_"Why do you think I took Dark Magician to the end of the Labyrinth."_ The brothers just stared at him as he flipped the final card- Shift._ "This card allows me to switch the positions of any two of our monsters."_

_"No!"_

_"It's not possible!"_

He smirked again,

"_I switch Gaia the Dragon Champion with the Dark Magician."_ The two monsters faded and disappeared briefly, before appearing in the other's position,_ "So Gaia is now at the other side of the Labyrinth in front of the Gate Guardian,"_ he looked up at the Paradox Brothers, _"And with 5900 ATTACK, it is more than match for your Guardian."_ He pointed at their monster, _"Gaia - destroy their monster and the rest of their life points."_

_

* * *

"You may have won our star chips, yes," Para smirked as he and his brother stood by the doors. His brother nodded. __"But you have not won this game!"_ Para smirked as he and his brother stood by the doors. His brother nodded. 

_"You must still chose a way out of this labyrinth,"_ Dox continued, wearing a similar smirk._ "If you choose the wrong path, you will be stuck in the labyrinth..." _

_"For all eternity,"_ Para and Dox declared in unison.

The brothers then proceeded to back flip around the room. Cassie, Alyssa and Simon watched unimpressed.

Yami meanwhile busy attending to others matters.

He hadn't been paying attention to the last five minutes of conversation- having spent most of them in a mild daze where he was talking to Izzy. He, then, started to fish around in Izzy's bag for something. Yami found what he was looking for and after a moment, he pulled them out.

_"Tell you what,"_ he said eventually, _"I'll decide which door we'll chose with these."_ Wearing a slight smirk, he held out both hands so that all could see them the two coins that he held. They were just two ordinary coins.

_"I've marked these two coins with the symbols on the two doors,"_

"But," Cassie protested.

"Shush," Alyssa said, swatting her sister, "She knows what she's doing." She added, "Don't ya?"

Yami nodded, smiling slightly at her, before turning back to Para and Dox.

_"The coin I leave in my hand,"_ he continued to the brothers, _"Is the door we pick."_

Para and Dox smirked at each other and burst out laughing

_"Try it if you really want,"_ Para said, smirking

_"But it'll be on your conscious when you fail,"_ Dox finished for his brother.

"You know I'm getting really tired of that!" Simon whispered to Cassie. "Why can't they just talk like normal people."

Before Cassie could reply, Yami open his left hand revealing the coin with the Kyû symbol and brothers once again burst into laughter.

_"You chose the Mei door,"_ Para chuckled,_ "The correct answer was Kyû."_

"What? Simon yelled incredulously, waving his fist.

_"Izzy,"_ Dox sniggered, _"You chose incorrectly- now you must spend the rest of eternity trapped in..."_ He stopped realising that Yami was smirking at him.

_"I thought as much,"_ Yami folded his arms, _"You knew I wouldn't be able to choose the correct door because there is no right answer, is there?"_ The Paradox Brothers glared at him, while he elaborated. _"If I had said Kyû, you'd say the correct door was Mei and visa-versa."_

"That's cheating!" Cassie yelped as smug expressions returned to Para and Dox's faces.

_"You may have seen past our trick, but it doesn't matter."_

_"You still chose incorrectly,"_ Dox grinned, _"You los..."_

_"Ah, ah, ah,"_ Yami interrupted, waving a finger at the Brothers, _"Unfortunately for you, I chose the Kyû door."_

"What?"

_"But?"_

_"That's impossible!"_ The Paradox Brothers demanded in unison.

_"Is it?"_ Yami said, smiling slightly as he revealed the coin in his other hand - the coin bearing the symbol of Kyû.

_"Both coins had Kyû on them?"_ Para demanded as Yami flipped the first coin.

Yami nodded as he caught the coin,

"_This one had both symbols on it, while the other only had one."_ He smirked at the brothers. _"So I believe we win."_

* * *

"I never thought I'd see the sunlight again!" Cassie chirped happily, blinking up at the sun. "It feels so good to be out of there." 

She smiled at Izzy.

"And best of all," Alyssa grinned as Simon scrambled out of the hole, "We both have 10 star chips and..." She paused abruptly, realising that there was someone staring at them. _"Hi Mai!"_ she waved cheerfully her. _"How've you been?"_

_"What are you doing?"_ Mai asked incredulously, blinking at them, _"And more to the point, do I want to know?" _

Izzy licked her lips slightly and rubbed her arm sheepishly,

_"We kinda ran into a little bit of trouble underground..."_ she trailed off. Alyssa grinned, taking up where Izzy left and elaborated,

_"We were trapped in a cave by Bandit Keith and his cronies."_

_"And we got lost in a labyrinth,"_ Cassie added, putting in her bit, "_And we met Para_ and _Dox_. _They challenged us to a tag-team duel, but Alyssa and Izzy smooshed their butts."_

_"I see."_ Mai shrugged, _"So Izzy,"_ she continued, moving the conversation, "_You've got the ten star chips then,"_ Mai asked curiously, brandishing her own full gauntlet.

_"Yeah,"_ Izzy nodded_, "Next stop is the castle. How about you?"_

_"Fine actually,"_ Mai said smiling,_ "I was just making my way up to the castle, when you lot started crawling out of that hole."_ She paused, pointing towards the castle in the distance. _"If you've finished too,"_ she continued, turning back to them, _"I'll walk with you."_

She shifted her head slightly, indicating that they should make a move, which they did, laughing and swapping stories as they went.

_"Hey,"_ Mai asked suddenly as they left the forest. She pointed up to the castle._ "Who's that?"_ They followed her finger to where she was pointing. There was a figure standing at the top of the steps to the castle. From this distance they could just about see that it was tall brown haired boy. He was wearing a grey top under a dark blue trench coat. He refused to look down at them as the gang reached the bottom of the steps. As they began the climb, they could make out a glint of silver from his side.

"Seto Kaiba!" Izzy gasped as he eventually glared down at her.

**A/N : Serveral things to say here:**

**1. The line (...the valley of the Shadow of Death...) that Alyssa says just before she duels Bonz comes from 'The Lord's My Shepherd.' if you're interested.**

**2. I appologise for any confusion during the Paradox duel. Heck, it confused me; and I was writting the darn thing!**

**3. Question - Who do you think is gonna end up with whom? I am excluding this question from Waffles4eva seeing as you already know. **

**4. I'll update as soon as I can.**


	12. Tempers in the Tower

**A/N: Do a happy dance, do a happy dance. I finished Chapter Eleven. YAY! Hope you like it.**

Chapter Eleven- Tempers in the Tower

"Seto Kaiba," Izzy repeated as they reached the top of the steps. He did not look at them as they approached.

"Sulky-So and so, isn't he?" Cassie muttered to her sister. Alyssa glanced at him for a few moments- remembering that Cassie had not be with them last time they had crossed paths with Kaiba before she nodded,

"He's worst than Monica." She agreed thinking about their friend back home in little ol' England.

"We meet again," Seto said curtly to Izzy, "I congratulate you on getting this far, but this is as far as you will go."

"What?" Cassie demanded of the lad who was at least twice her height. Mai too looked curiously at him.

"I can't let you pass, Izzy," Seto ignore them, continued in the same tone. "This is where your journey ends."

"Why?" Simon spat, "Izzy has all the star chips she need- she has every right to get in to that Castle." He pointed at him, "More so than you!"

Seto ignored him; instead he glared at Izzy,

"I'll put a different way," he snarled, picking up his silver briefcase, "I won't let you pass - Pegasus is mine!"

"What's in it for you?" Simon spat at him. "Your precious company?" Seto glared at him.

Izzy didn't speak.

"Mokuba," she said eventually. "You want Mokuba back."

Seto's expression changed so suddenly that it confirmed she had hit the nail on the head- so to speak,

"What?!" he demanded of her, ignoring Simon glaring at the back of his head, "How do you know about my brother?"

"Because we met him in the forest," she explained in the same quiet voice, looking up at him.

"... And Simon scared him by jumping on him," Cassie interjected suddenly from the step below.

"You didn't need to tell him that," Simon muttered through gritted teeth. Seto did not hear him,

"We will duel on that tower using my company's latest development in gaming technology." He indicated to a tower above them "Only one of us will enter that Castle and duel Pegasus," he held up the briefcase, "Last time, I underestimated you; this time I have no intention of allowing you the luxury of humiliating me again. This time I will not allow you to win!"

"You're not the only one on this Island with something to fight for," Yami - who had surfaced at the challenge-, snarled at him, "I accept your challenge Kaiba! Believe me, I have no intention of losing either."

_

* * *

"Did you really jump on him?" Mai asked curiously as they followed Yami and Seto. Cassie shrugged at her._

_"Yeah," _Simon sighed, opening that would be enough satisfy any further questions. It wasn't enough to satisfy her so he had elaborated, _"There was this rat yesterday- Darrien Blunt. After Izzy kicked his butt, he scampered off and I sorta chased after him and leaped on him."_

"Only then, did he realize that it was someone else," Cassie finished for him.

_"Oh, right,"_ Mai glanced at Alyssa_, "Where were you during this, then?"_

_"Pretty much the same thing,"_ She let out a long over-dramatic sigh and smirking at Simon, she continued, _"Only, I actually found Darrien and relinquished his Gauntlet."_

_"So that's how you entered the tournament." _

Alyssa nodded,

_"I won his gauntlet from him and all his star chips,"_ she paused and pulled out something from her pocket, _"This too,"_

The object that she pulled out was a card- a duel monster card. Only it wasn't- it had a picture of gold and treasure. It was The Honor of the King's Right Hand- an exact copy of the one that Izzy had received.

_"Hey,"_ Mai said, recognizing it, _"I had one of them when the invitation arrived."_ She grinned slightly, _"Almost left it behind actually..."_

Their conversation came to an abrupt end as Seto, then, Yami stopped.

Seto stooped down, flipped his briefcase open and pulling out a contraption from it- he tossed it at Yami. He then pulled out a second device and strapped it to his own arm- indicating that Yami should do the same.

"What the heck is that thing?" Simon demanded, scrutinizing it. "I've never seen anything like that before!"

"This are duel disks," Seto explained eventually, answering his question, "Able to allow Duelists to fight at anytime or anywhere." He indicated to the disk on his wrist, "These, however are still prototypes, but this will give me a chance to test them." He smirked at Yami, "You should be be proud."

Yami glared at him,

"What is this?" Cassie grumbled, sitting down on the ledge, "A Technology Convention!"

Her sister nodded as Seto continued, "The rules are pretty similar to that of a normal duel, but there are some changes," he pulled out his deck and slotted it in place. "We each place our decks in the card holders," he paused, holding the disk in his hand, he smirked at his opponent, "But that's where all the similarities end- Draw your hand and select one monster card," Yami did so and selected a card from his hand and held it separate to his hand. Seto did the same, "This is your main monster. You put this in main slot of top of the disk. The other cards go in the other places around the board." He held his disk up; "These space must remain occupied at all times. When either of us lose one or more, we draw from our decks to replace them." Seto dropped his arm and glared at Yami, "Any questions?"

"I've got a question," Cassie asked suddenly, putting her hand up, "How is this suppose to work? I mean I get the whole hand and deck on the wrist thing, but how are the holograms gonna get from there," she pointed at Yami's wrist, "To there." She pointed at the middle of the tower floor.

Seto ignored her and threw his disk into the center.

It spun elegantly on the field before sending small sparks of light. As the rotation increased, so did the sparks until they had risen to the height of Seto's shoulder. Then, suddenly, they dropped leaving Ryu-Kishin Powered, sword in hand on the field.

And behind the creature, five large cards had appeared in front of Seto.

He folded his arms and waited for Yami to do the same. He didn't wait long as Curse of Dragon appeared in front of his opponent.

"Whoa," Simon whistled, watching them. "That is cool." Cassie and Alyssa nodded their agreement.

_"That is high tech stuff," _Mai agreed_, "I have never in my life seen anything like this."_

"I'll move first," Seto, snapped, bringing their attention back to the duel, "And I'll attack your face-down card," Yami brought his arm up defensively as Ryu-Kishin Powered blew De-Spell into smithereens. He relaxed his arm as Seto's monster retook its position.

Cassie arched her eyebrows, turning to Alyssa.

"Can he do that?" Her sister was saved from answering by the man himself,

"Monsters are not restricted to attacking the main monster- you can attack the cards in the hand as well." He gestured at his hand, "But attacking the hand runs high risks- If a the hidden monster has higher attack points than the attacking monster, it is destroyed and you'll lose life-points." Seto challenged, "So, Izzy, what are you going to do?"

Yami surveyed the field for a few moments before he ordered his attack

"Curse of Dragon attack Ryu-Kishin Powered. Burn him to a crisp." Curse of Dragon was only too happy to oblige.

Cassie tugged her sister's sleeve as Seto summoned Sword Stalker to replace his fallen monster.

"Come on."

Simon looked at her curiously,

"Where are you going?"

Alyssa waved her hand as she followed her sister,

"Doesn't matter," she called over her shoulder, "We'll be back later."

Sword Stalker lunged forwards towards to destroy Curse of Dragon. The sword swept down in a giant arc whistling through the air. Just before it made contact with Curse of Dragon, the dragon fizzed into sparks as Yami waved his hand and the card furthest on his left revealed itself,

"I activate this, Shift- this card," Yami explained as his disk hovered briefly for a second before continuing to spin in the opposite direction, creating even more sparks, "Allows me to swap my Curse of Dragon with another monster in my hand- and one that is more than a match for your Sword Stalker." The sparks dropped suddenly again, leaving Dark Magician in its place. "Now, where were we?" he added smirking, "Oh, yes, you were attacking me."

Seto shielded his eyes as the Dark Magician destroyed his monster, creating a rather large dent in his life point. He looked up, wiped his mouth slightly and smirked at Yami,

"You're a fast learner."

* * *

She screwed her eyes up tightly- wishing that 50 ft drop beneath her would magically disappear and she wouldn't have to abseil down this stupid wall.

She opened her eyes and frowned. It was still there.

"Come on," Cassie called, leaning out of the opposite window, holding a rope, which was attached to a large sheet of tar pooling. It was old and had seen many camps and outings. It was blue and still bore the stains of many picnics in the local parks and surprisingly it was still made an excellent trampoline.

Cassie had stuffed into her bag, just before they had left for the airport on Tuesday. She thought they might have needed it if it had rained or something.

"Catch this, Alyssa," she yelled, throwing the rope to her sister, who almost dropped it and almost fell out of the window too.

The only reason that she didn't plummet to an untimely death on the cliffs below was because of a further rope tied around her middle and attached to a door.

"Sorry," Alyssa said sheepishly, holding the rope. She looked out the window and gulped.

There was a clip part way down this wall and one almost exactly opposite below Cassie. The distance between the pair of them was exactly the distance they needed to stretch the tar pooling. The only problem was that the both windows were 5 ft above the clip and the only way to reach them was to abseil down.

Alyssa hated heights- or rather falling from them.

"Ready," Cassie shouted from her ledge, bring her back to reality, "Set," Cassie leant backwards, "And…"

"I can't do it," Alyssa chocked, stepping back from the ledge. Cassie also stepped back and looked at her sister curiously, "I'm sorry, Cassie. I can't. I just can't," she glanced out the window again and shivered. "I'm scared..."

"Scared?" Cassie shook her head incredulously, "Allie, I'm scared too, but here I am. It's only a few feet to the clip and back again. You can do. I know you can."

"You're not afraid of falling from heights," Alyssa pointed out, "I am."

"But I was afraid of boats, remember," Cassie shouted, "When we were young, can you remember, I was absolutely petrified of going on a boat, any boat," she smiled slightly, "Even on Uncle's canal boat."

Alyssa nodded, remembering too,

"Oh, yeah," she smiling at the memory, "You got on my nerve in the end so I told you it wasn't bad and stayed with you to prove me point," she screwed up her face. She glanced impishly at her sister, "If memory serves correctly, didn't you throw up in my lap."

"I was five at the time," Cassie said stubbornly, before moving swiftly on, "Allie, you held my hand, and told me not to be scared. You gave me the courage to get that boat and every other boat since. I still hate boats and I still get devilish sea sickness but I can do it,"

"Yeah, but..."

"We made a promise Allie to Izzy," Cassie interrupted, before her sister could say another word, "That we would help her. We can't back out on her now."

There was a crack of light and yell of frustration from above. The sisters glanced up and at each other again, "And besides I think Izzy has more reason to be scared than us- she needs this." She paused and looked at her sister as a final plea. "She needs us both."

Alyssa looked at the rope in her hand and back at her sister.

She smiled,

"Only you would think of something this reckless," she chuckled, stepping on to the ledge- backwards.

"I learn from the best," Cassie smiled back as both sisters stepped off the edges of the windows.

* * *

Yami was glaring at Kaiba again when the girls returned. The smoke was still rising slightly from his disk from Kaiba's Crush Card that had destroyed all of his monsters with 1500 ATTACK points or more.

Which of course meant that most of his deck was no completely useless.

"What happened?" Cassie asked curiously as she surveyed the scene before them. Simon raised his eyebrows,

"Are you sure that you want to know?"

"Duh!"

Simon shrugged, turning to them at last, as Yami summoned Silver Fang to the field in DEFENCE MODE.

"You asked- Izzy summoned Dark Magician and destroyed Kaiba's monster. Then he summoned La Jinn in Ancient Lamp."

"_Which meant that he could recall his monster,"_ Mai interjected as Kaiba's Battle Ox sliced Sliver Fang into oblivion_. "But Izzy switched her Magician with La Jinn and skewered it."_

"La Jinn, of course, not the Dark Magician," he continued, picking up where Mai left off, "And anyway, Kaiba played Saggi the Dark Clown with a face down card. Izzy, then attacked Saggi which, unfortunately, activated Kaiba's Crush Card Virus," Simon paused for breath as another of Yami's monsters was destroyed. "And as a result, means that Izzy's deck is pretty much, well, useless."

"_Oh,"_ Mai added, leaning across, interrupting him again, _"And Kaiba's got his Blue-Eyes in his hand as well."_

Simon nodded, knowingly,

"Yeah, and that."

Alyssa rolled her eyes at them as Seto began to laugh,

"Is there anything we didn't miss?"

Seto flickered his hand and three cards before him simultaneously turned around, revealing three large white dragon cards. His disk started spinning in the opposite direction at an even higher speed, sending sparks further than before. It dropped just as suddenly as it had done previously, but in its place, it left three very large dragons.

"That," Simon answered eventually, finding his tongue, as the middle Dragon opened its mouth and screeched to the heavens, "That you have not missed."

"Kaiba has three Blue-Eyes White Dragons?" Cassie asked incredulously, staring at the duel. Her sister scowled and whacked the up side of her head. "…What was that for?" she demanded.

Alyssa rolled her eyes again,

"Cassie," she said eventually, through gritted teeth, "There are only three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in existence and all three belong to Seto Kaiba. I showed you the magazine article, remember."

Cassie grinned, "Oh, yeah."

Seto ignored the banter behind him and continued with the duel.

"Three Blue-Eyes are not the only thing that I have. Watch," he ordered as he revealed another card. His disk began spinning again and Seto's dragons became lost in a swirl of light. And like before, the sparks dropped, leaving an even larger dragon in its place "Behold," Seto smirked at he pointed at Yami, "I fused my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons into Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. This is your end. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon attack with Neutron Blast."

Yami shielded his eyes as the dragon destroyed one of his facedown cards- narrowly missing his monster. If it had been hit instead, the duel would be over. One direct hit and his life points would hit zero. He needed something to at least protect that.

"I summon Giant Solider of Stone in DEFENCE MODE," he said eventually as Seto laughed.

He attacked the new monster with same ruthless force and it shattered into fragments. Giant Solider of Stone had been in DEFENCE MODE, so fortunately, no life points had been lost.

Yami let out of sigh of relief, drawing a card from his deck, glanced at it and smiled, "I'm going to change my main monster for this," he pulled the disk up and placed the card on the disk, before he released it again. "In fact this is the creature that will stop your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in its tracks." The disk spun elegantly again, sending more sparks into the air, before they dropped leaving Kuriboh chirping in its place.

"That is your grand idea," Seto spat, "That sniffling pathetic creature. That is easily the weakest monster in the entire game." He laughed, "If you have given up, just surrender. Blue-Eyes attack her pathetic monster and end this duel."

Yami smirked briefly at Seto as the attack was released,

"I told you not to underestimate Kuriboh, last time we dueled," he snapped, reminding Seto of last time, as he turned one of his cards around, "I activate Multiply," Yami declared as both Kuriboh and the Blue-Eyes Dragon disappeared in cloud of dust."

"Hah," Seto laughed again, "Too late, I won."

Yami shook his head, smiling as he did so,

"Think again, Kaiba, this match isn't over." And indeed it wasn't; the magic card that Yami had activated created more Kuribohs; some of which where destroyed by the attack leaving plenty more left behind.

_"They're like bombs,"_ Mai muttered_, "Kaiba can't get to her life points until he's got rid of the Kuribohs and they keep on multiplying."_ She smiled at Simon, Cassie and Alyssa. _"That really was clever."_

Seto, however, did not share the sentiment.

"You'll pay for that," he snarled at his opponent, who just waved his finger,

"I don't think so, it's my turn and I activate these three cards," Yami smirked as three of his cards turned around, "Mammoth Graveyard, Polymerization and Living Arrow."

"You're a complete imbecile," Seto scoffed, "You don't have anything to merge. That was completely…" He frowned at his opponent, "Why are you looking like that for?"

Yami was wearing a smug grin on his face as he folded his arms,

"I activated Living Arrow, Kaiba," he pointed at Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon "It allows me to use my magic card on one of your monsters, so I'm fusing Mammoth Graveyard with your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

"What?!" Seto demanded as Mammoth Graveyard came galloping towards his dragon with the golden arrow closely behind it. The two creatures disappeared in a rain of light and colour.

After a moment, the cloud of light and dust faded to reveal Seto's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, seemingly unfazed by the immediate spell. The only problem was that it didn't stay like that. Seto's prize monster started melting away.

"It's poisoning the dragon from the inside-out. A fused light and dark monster; it won't work." Cassie said happily as Seto watched his monster in horror, "Look." She pointed at the dragon that was slowly dissolving into air. It's already down to 1800 ATTACK points and it's still dropping." Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's ATTACK points continued to drop until it had reached 900 ATTACK.

"_Very impressive,"_ Mai nodded.

"It's not over yet," Seto snarled. "It's my turn, Blue-Eyes," he pointed at his opponent, "Neutron Blast." Blue-Eyes did as ordered, blowing up more Kuriboh. It didn't do much good as the Kuriboh just multiplied again; replacing those that had been destroyed with even more brown fluffy creatures.

Seto scowled again; his brow itching with fury as he ended his turn.

Yami waved his hand over his army of small monsters as he started his turn.

"I'm going to remove my army of Kuriboh and summon Celtic Guardian as my main monster." The Kuriboh disappeared with large pops to be replaced by a final crack, leaving Celtic Guardian on the field. "Attack Kaiba's Dragon," he ordered.

Celtic Guardian, which was now more than a match for Seto's monster, lunged forwards, slicing one head from the mighty dragon. Seto's life points plummeted drastically.

Seto stood for a moment while the Blue Eyes head dissolved into nothing as the Celtic Guardian stepped back into place. It was happening again. He would loose again to Izzy Corbey

He would loose Mokuba.

He could not loose.

"Every hundred of my life is equal to one of these tiles," Seto stared at Yami, "Every hundred that I loose, I move back one tile." He smirked again, " I lost 500 life points in that turn."

He stepped back four tiles and up on to the battlement. One more step and he would have fallen from the tower. "If you attack me, I will fall to my death."

"That's not fair," Cassie, yelled shaking her fist at Kaiba, "You can't do that!"

Alyssa and Simon nodded their agreement, yelling various insults at the lad as he drew another card.

"_He's trying to force Izzy's hand,"_ Mai muttered quietly to them, as Seto passed his turn, _"He wants her to have his fate and that of his brother on her conscience. He'll guilt her into losing the match."_

Seto continued to stare at his opponent from the battlement, once again ignoring the banter.

"Are you willing to attack me…?" He didn't drop his gaze.

"Celtic Guardian," Yami spat eventually, making his decision, "Attack Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and end this duel!"

/No/ Izzy yelled suddenly, materializing in spirit form- even surprising Yami, her hand outstretched- at the monster as it lunged forwards. /Stop! Don't attack/

The Celtic Guardian paused slightly. The Master had ordered the attack, but the Mistress had tried to stop it. This had never happened before- the Master and the Mistress worked together. The Mistress had tried to call him back, but it was too late. As the Celtic Guardian sliced the Blue-Eyes in two, he prayed he had done right.

As his monster blew up, the blast knocked Seto backwards and he toppled over the edge of the tower.

* * *

The room had not changed. The white walls were emotionless and the ceramic tiles are cold and empty. This room felt like it had not been warmed for years, yet the temperature was exactly the same in every other room in the hospital.

This room was like most other- two small windows slowly drawing the night-light through to dance on a wooden desk- decorated with a dozen 'Get Well Soon' cards and two chairs next to a bed.

On the bed was a young boy. He had not moved since Sunday. There had been no sign of life in the boy since that day and today was Wednesday. His brown eyes remained firmly shut to the world.

A woman sat slumped in the chair nearest the bed; her head resting on her head- watching her son; only lifting her head as her husband entered the room.

He smiled at her and waved the plastic mug of coffee and the box of cookies at her. She smiled back at him

"Hi honey," she smiled slightly, avoiding the subject on both their minds, "How's work been today? Did you have a good day?"

"I guess."

There was uneasy silence between them,

"Grace," David said eventually, sitting down in the chair beside her "Has there been any change?"

She shook her head,

"Nothing, "she turned her head back to Mike. "The doctors thought..." She shrugged it away

They sat in that uncomfortable silence again.

It was her turn to interrupt it.

"Have you heard from Izzy?" Grace asked,

David shook his head,

"Not personally," he flipped open his phone, "But several people have claimed that she's going to be a finalist- if not already." He smiled, "If she's left the Island, I think she would have called us herself. She's so brave." David glanced at his wife, and smiled again, "They both are."

"I'm proud of them both," Grace agreed quietly, biting back her tears. "Our children- I'm so proud of them."

"Me too," David whispered, putting a comforting arm around his wife's shoulder and watching their son and thinking about their daughter half-way across the world, "Me too."

* * *

Izzy stood there for a moment, while her reactions caught up with her. She could not believe it; she refused believe it- Yami had ordered the Celtic Guardian to attack and Seto had fallen off the top of the tower. He was surely dead; there was no way that he could have survived a fall like that.

Only he had. Seto's head appeared back over the top of the ledge, looking none too pleased, before disappearing below the ledge again.

"Kaiba!" Izzy shouted, as she leant over to pull him up.

_"Was that supposed to happen?"_ Mai asked, frowning slightly as they watched Seto getting his feet firmly back on solid ground

"I think I know," Simon muttered, turning to Cassie and Alyssa, "Care to explain?" He demanded of them.

The sisters looked at each other and smiled sweetly, trying to look innocent, but failing miserable

"Us? We did nothing..."

"Well," Alyssa screwed up her face, before grinning widely, "We may have done something..."

"What the hell were you doing?" Seto was snapping at Izzy and she did not look at all impressed.

"Me! What the hell were you doing- standing on the edge like that?" She yelled incredulously back at him.

"It was your choice to attack me and in doing so, you've prevented me from saving Mokuba. I have lost my brother and it's all your fault."

Izzy's temper had been wearing thin for a couple of days and now her patience snapped.

"Did you think I ever want to be here?" she snarled at him. Seto was slightly taken aback, but held his ground, "I never wanted to be in this damn tournament in the first place. I'm only here because Pegasus forced me to come. He stole my brother too, and I am not going to abandon him. You are not the only one on this Island who is fighting for something that they love..."

The shouting match continued in this fashion and it became apparent that it would last for a while.

"Izzy- maybe..." Simon tried, attempting to stop the argument before it erupted into something they all might regret.

"Stay out of this, Simon!" Izzy demanded, not even giving him a glance. "The only..."

Simon shrugged slightly at Alyssa and Cassie as Izzy went back to yelling at Seto.

"I tried," he turned to them, "Not much more we can do now."

Mai raised her eyebrows,

_"How so?"_

_"Usually, Izzy is rather quiet and a really good friend,"_ Simon explained, as they watched the shouting match continue in front of them_. "But when she's angry, boy, does she have one heck of a temper."_

_"She doesn't lose her temper that often,"_ Alyssa said, giving a knowing nod, _"But we generally pull a disappearing act until she's calmed down."_

_"Oh,"_ Mai muttered as she looked at Seto and Izzy again and returned to Simon's earlier question, she asked, _"What did you do?"_

_"Well,"_ Cassie sighed, grinning widely as her sister, _"I brought some tar pooling and I noticed some pegs when we came up here."_

_"We just abseiled down,"_ Alyssa continued, _"Secured the material and Bob's your uncle."_ She laughed, high-fiving her sister, _"One teenage multi-billionaire saved from falling to certain death."_

Simon stared at her incredulously,

"You said you abseiled! You hate abseiling?!"

Alyssa shrugged,

"Something's are more important-"

"I came to this Island to save my brother," Seto snapped at Izzy, interrupting their rather civilized conversation as came he storming towards them, "And I'm not leaving this Island without him."

"The pair of them are already arguing like an old married couple and they've hardly know each other a week, if that!" Alyssa hissed, out of earshot of both respecting people- to her sister who nodded, stifling a giggle, watching him go.

Izzy, too, came scowling towards them. Alyssa smiled at her, "Better," she added cheerfully. Her friend's death glare response was enough. "Sorry, I asked," she muttered, rubbing her glasses as they followed Izzy down from the tower.

* * *

They arrived in the castle in time to see several guards carrying the limp body of Seto Kaiba out of the main hall. Watching them move him, Izzy's anger slowly drained out of her,

"What have I done," she muttered, putting a hand to her head, "What have I done?"

"There was nothing you could have done," a voice answered beside her. "Nothing any of us could have done."

"He only tried to save Mokuba," Izzy said quietly, glancing across at Simon, standing next to her, "I swear I'll save them both."

"Well, look who it is?" Someone drawled behind them, interrupting them.

"Howard," Alyssa responded curtly, turning to see the American Duelist, "Nice to see you too."

He glared at her through narrowed eyes.

"I'm surprised to see you losers here," he sniggered, "Thought you'd still in that cave!"

Alyssa glared at him,

"Howard, I'm going to get you back for locking us in there!"

"Oh, please," he scoffed turning away, "You only won on a fluke."

"Attention duelists," an official announced suddenly as Bandit Keith reached the door, "To enter the finals you need to produce one of the special card that were send with your official invitations."

Alyssa pulled out the card she had shown Mai earlier just as Bandit Keith turned back and saw it.

"So that's what these things are for," she held it up, before putting it back in her pocket

"Even if you are the winner," the official continued as Keith, grinning, quietly slipped away, "If you do not have it you will be disqualified from the tournament." He beckoned to the door, "Now if you will come with me."

They followed him along a corridor and were ushered inside a room. Here, was another guard dressed in a similar suit and a table covered in-

"Food!" Simon and Cassie yelped in unison as they beheld the table covered in various plates of steaming hot food. It smelt so good and as they had not eaten properly since they had arrived on the Island, it smelt even better.

"Mister Keith is not with you?" Croquet asked as they sat down. Alyssa shook her head and Croquet shrugged,

"I'm sure that you are hungry," he gestured at the table "Help yourself."

Which of course, they didn't need telling twice.

When Croquet was satisfied that everyone had eaten what they wanted, he hit a button on the wall and the screen popped on to reveal Pegasus smiling widely at them,

"Congratulations my four finalists..." He scanned the table before him, "One of you is missing, but no matter," he smiled again at them, "Then, the three of you in this, will have a replica Millennium Eye." Izzy and Alyssa exchanged glances as Pegasus continued his instructions, "Crack it open and inside you will find apiece of paper with a letter."

They did as he instructed and pulled out the required paper.

_"I've got B,"_ Mai said, scrutinizing it.

"My letter is C," Alyssa declared, waving her paper around.

"What about you, Izz?" Simon garbled though a mouthful of food, looking at the only person who had not revealed their letter. "Which letter have you got?"

"A."

Pegasus disappeared briefly while a flow chart appeared on screen showing who would duel whom:

Mai Valentine verse Izzy Corbey was match one. Alyssa Trent verse Bandit 'Howard' Keith was match two. The winners would fight each other and whoever won, then dueled Pegasus.

"I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow," Pegasus finished cheerfully as the screen flashed out.

"Well," Cassie muttered to her sister as she put her fork down, "He is certainly one for dramatics, I'll give him that."

"We will now show you to your rooms," Croquet pointed to the door as the five of them stood up, "So that you may refresh yourselves and prepare for the finals tomorrow."

* * *

"Izzy."

Nothing.

"Izzy! Open this door," Yami continued, hammered the door again, "Izzy!"

Still no response from his hikari,

"This is ridiculous," he yelled through the wooden door, "Izzy, you can't shut me out forever."

This time, Yami got a response; though not the kind that he wanted.

"You'll find I damn well can!" Izzy screamed back through the door.

Yami gave a growl of frustration and continued hammering.

The pair of them were being incredibly stubborn. This wonderful argument had been going on for the past hour and neither of them showed any sign of backing down.

Izzy was furious at Yami and Yami couldn't see why Izzy was so angry with him.

After that encounter on the tower with Seto, Izzy had mentally shut herself off from Yami- much to his annoyance and had retreated into her soul room- barricading herself in. She was refusing to speak to him through the mind link, so he had to go and see if he could talk to her through the soul rooms instead.

It still didn't work.

"Open this door, Izzy," he shouted again, "We need to talk."

"You said yourself earlier," Izzy retorted stubbornly, through the wooden door, "There's nothing to talk about!"

Yami growled in frustration again,

"This is stupid- Kaiba..."

She yanked the door open, stopping him mid-sentence,

"You nearly killed him," Izzy said flatly.

"I..."

"I don't care," she yelled at him, "If it weren't for Cassie and Alyssa- Seto would be dead."

"We needed to get into Pegasus' Castle," Yami argued- defending himself. "Kaiba was stopping us! It was the only way we can save your brother."

"And Seto Kaiba wasn't trying to do the same thing," she shouted, "You heard him, Yami, he's trying to save Mokuba- like I'm trying to save Mike." Izzy looked hard at her darker half, "Tell me, what is the difference between what we're doing and what he's doing?"

"I..." Yami spluttered. He stopped and sighed- finding the words he wanted, "I made you a promise that I would help you get Mike back- no matter what."

"I understand that," Izzy said, sighing too, "And I am honestly truly grateful to you for it, but nothing is worth killing someone else for. Last week, you asked me to trust and I did. At the start of this stupid tournament, I trusted you," she paused and closed her eyes. Yami lowered his eyes slightly. "And I still do." She continued, opening her eyes and blinking at him, "But can you promise?" Izzy pleaded, "That you'll never do anything that stupid, that reckless again." She paused and looked at him again, "Please. Can you promise?"

He nodded, "I promise."

* * *

It was past midnight and he had been watching this spot for hours- like a hawk waiting for its prey. He watched the sisters close their door and tiptoe down the corridor

Actually, Bandit Keith was more of a vulture- he had been waiting hours for them to stop talking and fall asleep so he could sneak in and steal her entrance card. Or failing that, for the girl and her brat of sister to leave.

And after hours of waiting, they had finally left.

He watched them until they had turned a corner into another corridor, before pressing the handle down and the door creaked open.

Now all he had to find what he wanted. It didn't take him long.

The girl was even more stupid than he thought. The Honor of the King's Right Hand card was sitting by her desk.

Excellent- now he wouldn't have to play her in the finals. She didn't have the card to qualify. She would be disqualified and he would win automatically.

From there it would be a simple matter of beating whoever won the first match and Pegasus would be his.

Nothing could possibly stand in his way.

The only problem was that somebody else was watching him.

* * *

Simon yawned and stretched out on the bed again. He had a full stomach and Pegasus had finally provided a few luxuries on the Island like a shower and a bed.

He was content; the only problem was he couldn't sleep. He had rolled over several times in the past hour, but every time he'd felt himself dropping off to sleep, a bird hooted or the wind howled.

He rolled over again and closed his eyes. He might be able to get to sleep this time,

BANG, BANG, BANG.

Simon scowled as he sat up. Someone was knocking his door- very loudly. Did they want to wake the whole castle up or not?

He flung the door open to find Cassie and Alyssa- still dressed and smiling sweetly at him.

"We're going for an explore," Alyssa whispered to him, smiling, "Wanna come!"

"No." He hissed at her, "Go and bug Izzy. I'm trying to sleep."

"But you're not sleeping now, and besides," Cassie nodded, "We've tried Izzy, she's already asleep."

"And I don't blame her. Leave me alone."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

"Alright, I'll come with you," Simon snapped eventually, "Just let me get dressed, first," he muttered, slamming the door as quietly as he could,

The sisters stood for a moment, before grinning at each other,

"Told ya he'd come with us," Alyssa hissed.

**

* * *

She glanced around as a cold breeze blew gently across her face and dried leaves crackled like dust beneath her feet as she walked slowly through the forest. The Moon seemed to have barely risen above the trees, but Izzy knew something was wrong.**

**She was outside Pegasus's castle in the forest. She could see the glistening soft pink castle just peaking through the treetops. The moonlight shimmering on it, but at the same time, casting shadows on the magnificent building.**

**Behind her, something moved and whispering softly. The sound kept moving away from her, every time she moved forwards, so did it,**

**"Please," it begged as they moved through the forest, "Izzy." **

**She started to run. Like before, she had no idea where she was running and like before, she didn't care. **

**"Izzy," the voice called again. This time the voice had a personality and definition that she recognized, "Izzy."**

**"Mokuba," she asked, moving forwards, "Is that you?"**

**Mokuba moved from the shadows of the trees and grinned at her,**

**"Help us," he murmured, holding out his hand to her, before he faded into the darkness.**

**"Izzy," another voice called out to her. **

**"Seto," she asked as he emerged from the trees. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked slightly, before he too held out a hand,**

**"We need you," he whispered before he faded away like his brother had.**

**"Izzy."**

**She spun around and there was the person she most wanted or dreaded seeing, **

**"Mike," her voice crackling with emotion as her brother faded into the light, grinning at her as he always did,**

**He smiled, holding out his hand to his sister,**

**"Izzy, only you can stop him."**

**Izzy shot forwards to grab his hand to stop him disappearing like the Kaiba brothers had, but it was of no use.**

**As soon as she was near enough to touch him, he faded away,**

**"Please Izzy," his voice called back to her, "Stop him."**

"Izzy," Yami called for the fourth time, leaning over her, "Come on, wake up."

"Yami?" She asked as her eyes flickered open, "They were here,"Izzy gasped, sitting up suddenly, glancing around the room, not looking at him, "I heard them, I saw themThey were calling me. They were here."

Yami sat down at the edge of the bed,

"Izzy, look at me," he ordered. Timidly, Izzy did as she was asked, "It was a dream- nothing more than a nightmare. No one has been in here."

"But they called me," she protested, "Mike, Seto and Mokuba- I heard them."

"You were calling their names before I woke you," he smiled gently at her, "You're just hett up about tomorrow, that's all, and besides what can you do in the middle of the night."

Izzy sat in silence for a moment- knowing that he was right.

"It was so real though," she sighed eventually as she gazed out of the window at the starry sky, glittering on the Island below. She turned her head back to him. "It was so real, Yami. It's hard to believe that it was just a dream."

* * *

They watched the scene before them with a mixture of confusion and an intoxicating interest.

The three of them had found a tower and after searching for at least an hour, had finally found an entrance. Now, they were slightly regretting finding it. They had climbed to the top of the tower and found a scene that they was just plain weird.

It was a large room, which surely couldn't fit the floor space, and there were large tablets darted around the room- with large monsters on them.

Two figures stepped forwards from the crowds while everybody else was were chanting in an ancient language.

The taller of the figures had a monster in front of him. He made an order and his monster lunged forwards and destroyed another.

This was a duel, but not like anything they had ever seen.

The other figure screamed and completely disappeared.

Simon scuffed his foot against the floor. It squeaked and the people in the room turned towards them.

"Oops," he gulped as one of the cloaked figures, the one that had just been dueling, stepped forwards to meet them. The figure removed its hood and a golden eye stared back at them.

"Pegasus," Cassie gasped. Indeed, it was the creator of Duel Monsters himself.

"Visitors- most unwelcome, I might add," his eye sparkled towards them, glowing, "I'll show you what unwelcome guests will soon find- the Shadow Realm." He moved forwards towards them, smirking.

Behind them, the Millennium Ring started glowing- furiously overpowering the Millennium Eye, practically blinding Pegasus who stepped back to try and shield his own eye.

"I don't think so," Bakura snarled at him, holding the ring out in front of him "That won't work on me."

"Alyssa- what the heck are you doing?" Cassie protested, trying to reach her sister.

Bakura shrugged her off as the Millennium Ring glowed even brighter,

"All three of you will forget everything you have just seen," he snarled as the light became unbearable. "Until such a time, when I require you to remember."

* * *

Izzy emerged that morning to find Cassie and Alyssa already up and eating breakfast in the dining room.

"Good morning," the pair chirped happily as she sat down. "Pleasant dreams?"

Izzy ignored them and reached for some cereal.

"And good morning to you too," Alyssa said rolling her eyes. "Not too much to answer, is it?"

Izzy sighed,

"Good morning."

"Much better," Alyssa grinned at her, "Oooh," she muttered, remembering something, pulling a brightly coloured wrapped rectangular object from under the table, she added passing it to her sister, "Happy birthday Cassie!"

"Thirteen today," Cassie sang as she ripped the wrapping paper.

"It's your birthday?" Izzy asked stunned, watching Cassie remove the last bits of paper.

"Is it not Friday 28th October?" Alyssa pointed out and Izzy nodded. "Well?"

"I'm really sorry," Izzy apologized, turning to the birthday girl, "I completely forgot, with all the whatnot and stuff but happy birthday, anyway, Cassie."

"Thank you, Izzy." Cassie squealed happily, "Allie, I've wanted this for weeks!" She turned the book over and read the blurb, while her sister just smiled at her.

As Cassie put her book on the table to finish her breakfast, Simon wandered in and sank into his seat, putting his head on the table. Alyssa and Cassie exchanged glances and smirked,

"Sleep well?" Alyssa said cheerfully as her sister spooned some more cereal into her mouth.

He didn't even move his head from the table,

"Not with following the pair of you half the night on one of your stupid adventures!"

Izzy raised her eyebrows,

"Adventure?" she asked, eying Cassie and Alyssa suspiciously as Mai wandered into the room and sank into her seat and reaching for the toast.

"You could have stayed in your room."

"You didn't give me much choice," Simon lifted his head up, "And you know what the most annoying thing is? I can't remember any of it!"

Cassie grinned,

"Don't worry," she said happily, flicking through her new book again, "I can't remember anything either."

"Me either," Alyssa added as she finished eating. Simon stared at her as he reached for an apple.

"You mean," he demanded curtly while he took a large bit from it, "I was up half the night and you've got no clue as to why?" The sisters just nodded at him.

_"Morning Mai,_" Cassie said cheerfully, to the older woman,

_"Morning,"_ she answered, trying to prevent herself from yawning and failing miserably.

"Did anybody sleep last night?" Izzy muttered, shaking her head and putting her spoon down.

"Nope."

"No."

_"I didn't."_

"Not really."

"Allie," Cassie pointed out as she finished her breakfast, "You don't sleep anyway."

"I do," she pouted, folding her arms, "You're just asleep when I do."

"If you have finished eating," Croquet interrupted standing by the door. "Will the finalists, please make their way to the arena where the first match will begin shortly."

Mai pushed the last piece of toast into her mouth and nodded, rising to her feet.

_"Ready when you are, Izzy."_

**A/N: The next couple of chapters should be updated soonish. I've pretty much got them written up already, but I'm in the middle of me GCSE exams, so when I get a few spare moments, I'll finish the next chapter and post.**


	13. Machine Onslaught

**A/N: Confession time. I'll admit this before you read this chapter and ask why the Mai/Izzy duel isn't there; it isn't. The Duel did happen, but nothing of real importance actually happens; suffice to say Izzy wins and that's where this chapter begins...**

**Disclaimer – I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I only own my own characters. **

Chapter 12 - Machine Onslaught

Izzy chased after her,

_"Mai,"_ she called, _"Hey, wait!"_

Mai stopped, turned and waited for Izzy to reach her.

_"Why did you surrender?"_ Izzy asked as she drew level with her.

Mai grinned,

_"There was no was no way out,"_ she shrugged as she thought of those final of their duel, _"So I thought it would be better to concede the duel."_

_"You could have found a way out,"_ Izzy protested, stepping towards her, _"There could have been a way."_

_"Something's are worth more so much more than that,"_ Mai laughed, shaking her head, "_Simon told me why you're here."_ She glanced up and down the corridor,_ "About your brother."_

_"He told you..."_

_"Yeah,"_ Mai said nodding, "_Please, don't be angry with him. I'm glad he told me and one more thing," _she added, in a much quieter tone, _"Last night, I heard noise outside my room. I went to investigate and I saw Bandit Keith waiting outside the girls' room for them to leave."_

Izzy opened her mouth,

_"Bandit Keith was in Alyssa and Cassie's room?"_

Mai nodded,

_"More than that,"_ she added quietly, _"I think he stole Alyssa's entrance card- so she can't compete in the finals."_

Izzy just stared at her while she dug in her pocket for something.

_"If she needs it, give her this,"_ she continued, holding out her Honor of the King's Right Hand card, "_I don't need it anymore."_

Reluctantly, Izzy took the card and put it in her own pocket,

_"Thank you,"_ she muttered quietly, _"For everything."_

_"No."_ Mai smiled at her,_ "I should be thanking you, Izzy. Do you have a mobile?"_ She asked suddenly, changing the subject, _"Or an e-mail address?"_

Izzy nodded, fishing a small notebook from a pocket. She scribbled in it, tore it out and handed it over,

_"Why do you want it?"_

_"I want a re-match at some point, you know,"_ Mai explained, tearing the paper in two and scribbling her own contact details down, _"And besides, you said that we were friends, are we not?"_ She passed it back.

_"I guess."_

_"Pass it on to the others, will ya?"_ Mai said, waving as she started along the corridor, _"And good luck!"_

Izzy watched her leave, before she turned back to find out exactly what the commotion from the arena was.

* * *

"She doesn't have her entrance card, face it!" Keith drawled, folding his arms again. "Just disqualify her already!" 

His opponent was standing on the other side of the stadium digging through her pockets for something. Her deck was already on the platform, but there was one thing she need first.

"Hold on, Howard," Alyssa snapped at him, digging once more in her pockets, "I know I put it in here somewhere."

Bandit Keith scoffed at her as Izzy reached Simon and Cassie on the balcony.

"What's going on?" she asked them. Simon shrugged.

"Allie can't find her card," Cassie muttered quietly as they watched the events below. "She couldn't find it in our room earlier."

Izzy swallowed hard and gulped as Keith grew more impatient- Mai had been right.

"You won't find it," he turned to the official standing by the stadium. "Just declare me the winner already-" He was cut short by a triumphant cry.

"Ah ha," Alyssa yelled triumphantly, pulling a card from her pocket. She grinned at her opponent, "Told you I had it, Howard." She flashed the blank card at the official who nodded.

Bandit Keith looked outraged.

"But that's-" he shouted, before stopping and snarling, "Fine, let's get this over with!"

"Gladly," Alyssa said cheerily as she drew her hand and watched as Keith drew his own hand, "Your move first, Howard."

He scowled at her as he scanned his hand.

"Fine," Keith snapped as he pulled a card from his hand and slammed it down on the field. "I play Pendulum Machine in DEFENSE MODE." He glared again at Alyssa as the giant pendulum creature hovered in mid-air, gently rocking back and forth, "I'll make you pay for insulting me- the former USA champion."

Alyssa just waved a finger at him,

"Ah, and that's just the point," she said with a grin as she selected a card from her hand, "I play The Little Swordsman of Aile in DEFENSE MODE too." The small swordsman appeared on the stadium with a flicker of light. The alligator that it was sat on roared slightly at Keith as Alyssa ended her turn.

"That's it," he scoffed, laughing, "That's not even worth my effort. Pendulum Machine switch into ATTACK MODE and slice her pathetic monster into oblivion." The pendulum swung back and forth in larger sweeps until at last it reached the poor swordsman and sliced him clean in two.

Alyssa shielded her eyes slightly as her monster disappeared in flickers of light. She drew a new card and pulled another card from her hand and placed it on the field.

Neo the Magic Swordsman appeared where his fallen comrade had been only moment before; his cloak gently sweeping around him as his sword glimmered in the light.

"I activate reinforcements to increase Neo's ATTACK to 2200,"she added as Neo's sword grew brighter. "Now he's more than a match for your Pendulum Machine." Alyssa pointed at Keith, "Now go, Neo, destroy his monster."

The loyal swordsman did just that, but when the smoke cleared, Keith's monster emerged unscathed.

"But he can't do that?" Cassie protested as Keith began his turn by summoning a new monster. "That's unfair," she turned to Izzy who was standing next to her, "He can't do that, can he?" To her dismay, the older girl shook her head.

"It's perfectly legal." Izzy said frowning as the new monster blasted Neo into oblivion, creating a large dent in Alyssa's life points. "Monster cards can not be attacked by magical monster cards. They're complete opposites."

"What about fire and water?" Cassie asked as her sister summoned Mother Grizzly in DEFENSE MODE. "They're opposites too. Why do they work?"

"Magic and machine are so different that one disrupts the other." Izzy explained quietly as below Keith played a card face down and summoned yet another new monster in DEFENSE MODE. " Magic has always been unable to stop machines," she finished.

Below, Alyssa began her turn. She studied her hand briefly and selected a card from her hand and placing it face down on the field. Selecting a new card, she slammed it down on the field.

Her ever-faithful Strike Ninja appeared on the field. He stared brazenly at Keith before he sank to his knees in DEFENCE position. She finished her turn by playing another facedown card.

"Defence won't save you," Keith sneered as he activated a magic card, "Stop Defence!" Alyssa's monster stood up jerkily, as if being pulled by some unseen force. Keith laughed, "Your monster is now open to a direct attack from my monster."

Alyssa watched the Pendulum Machine swing closer to her Ninja, each swoop bringing destruction just a little bit closer.

She turned over the face down card and snapped, "I activate Way of the Ninja- this increases Strike Ninja's Attack by 600 ATTACK." Her Ninja leaped into the air; his red belt flickering as he raised his hand and slammed his knife down into the machine. He twisted it, finding the right mechanical part; he jumped back into position as Pendulum Machine disintegrated into a thousand pieces. "Not so indestructible as you thought!" Alyssa waved her finger at him, "My turn and I attack your Launcher Spider with Strike Ninja."

"I'll end my turn by switching both my monsters back to DEFENCE MODE," she added as she ended her turn.

Keith glared at his opponent and her monsters, realising that his own creature was still stronger before he brought his head back and laughed,

"Ha," he cackled, "My monster is still stronger than your sniveling Ninja- Barrel Dragon destroy both her scrawny creatures." The Dragon rotated its three gun barrels several times, before it came to a halt locking in position

Unfortunately, since Barrel Dragon was a Machine and had no mind of it's own, it fired two shots at Strike Ninja and Mother Grizzly. On impact, both monsters disintegrated into nothing.

Alyssa blinked slightly as she glanced at her hand. Her hand lingered thoughtfully on one card. Smiling, She selected it and played it down on the field, "I activate Assassination Preventive which prevents you from attacking me next turn."

Keith, already planning his next move, held up his card and sneered, "I think I'll active Slot Machine in DEFENCE MODE." The new machine monster fitted it's name acutely; it highly resembled on those gambling slot machines that took most of your money. "Try and get past him."

"I play this card face-down," Alyssa said, as she pulled a further card from her hand. Alyssa started grinning, "I also activate Summoned Skull in ATTACK MODE." The demon creature roar as it took its place on the field, as its master smirked at Keith, "You know what I've noticed Howard," she glanced at her opponent, "My monster's stronger than yours." Alyssa pointed at Barrel Dragon, "Attack with Lightening Strike."

Summoned Skull did just that, blowing Barrel Dragon into oblivion. As the smoke cleared, she smirked at Keith, "I'm back in the game; so watch out Howard."

Furious, Keith selected two cards from his hand played them face down. With a slight smirk, the ex-champion ended his turn.

Drawing from her deck, Alyssa studied her hand slightly, before playing a card facedown. Satisfied, she turned her attention to her opponent and his monster, adding, "Summoned Skull, do what you do best."

The demon creature slammed its hand together, creating a blast of electricity that he fired at Keith's monster. As Summoned Skull's Lightning Strike attack came hurtling towards Slot Machine, Keith flipped over both facedown cards; he had played on his previous turn and activated them. Both monsters disappeared in a cloud of dust as the attack made impact.

However, when the smoke cleared again, both monsters were still standing, much to the disgruntled expression of the attacking monster's owner as her own life-points were slightly depleted. "That…" she dwindled into silence as she saw that Slot Machine DEFENCE POINTS had gone up to 3000; 500 more points than Summoned Skull. "That is not good," she added after a momentary pause, "That 's…" she eyed her monster again, "Hold on, Skull has only got 2400 ATTACK; he supposed to have 2500 ATTACK. How did that happen?"

Keith sniggered as he waved his cards,

"Just a little thing called Poison Infection- this is like any other computer or human virus; it takes 4 of your monster's ATTACK POINTS away from it," he indicated the second card, "And this raises the ATTACK or DEFENCE of Slot Machine." He laughed, "You didn't even scratch it."

Alyssa scowled as her opponent began his turn- Howard was really starting to annoy her. He drew from his hand and smirked again at her. She almost rolled her eyes at him.

"Guess what?" Keith turned the card that he had just drawn, "I've got another Seven Complete and I'll equip it in ATTACK MODE to Slot Machine." He placed it on the field as his machine's ATTACK increased to 2700."

Frowning slightly, Alyssa began her turn, but as soon as she had drawn from her deck and seen what it was, she smiled.

"I activate Axe of Despair," Alyssa slammed the magic card down on the field, "And I'll attach it to Summoned Skull." The demon creature growled slightly lifting its arm as a circular axe head latched on to it. He brought it up to his face and grunted his approval as his ATTACK POINTS increased to 3400.

Alyssa continued, "That's not all, because I also activate this, as well," she held up the second magic card, "Truce of the Enemies, this card prevents both of us from attacking for one turn." She tilted her head at her opponent, "Whatever you've planning, Howard, "I'm ready for it!"

"This is impossible," Simon demanded from the balcony as they watched the duel. Izzy raised her eyebrows slightly, glancing at her friend. He nodded; after all everything they had seen and experienced this week, was a testament that nothing could be impossible.

Keith smirked as he began his turn again– there was a reason he was getting all these Seven Completes. The answer was up his sleeve- quite literally. He had several hidden beneath his wristband and was slipping them into his hand, but that wasn't something that these pathetic losers weren't going to know.

"I have no need to attack," He snorted, as he revealed a third card and adding, "Just look what I got?" He slammed the card on the field as another Seven Complete card attached itself to Slot Machine, raising its ATTACK to 3400 - the same ATTACK as Summoned Skull after his little trap card earlier and Alyssa's upgrade. He sneered again at her, "And I think I'll move Slot Machine into ATTACK MODE."

It was a standstill.

"Ya not gonna find out a way from this!"

Alyssa played a face down card on the field, before she ended her turn.

"You should have known better than to challenge me." Keith laughed as he selected a card from his hand, "I activate Pilliager," he sneered as he slammed the magic card down on the field, "It allows me to look at your hand and take one of them for myself." He snapped his fingers impatiently. "Come on, show me your hand!"

Scowling, Alyssa revealed her hand to her opponent. He snorted in disgust at her cards. "Your cards really are pathetic, but," Keith paused, seeing what he wanted, "I think I'll have your Sword and Shield magic card." He smirked, "That's quite a good card."

Above, Simon blinked at the sound of the name of the card.

"Sword and Shield," he muttered to Izzy as Alyssa sent her card over to Keith. "I've heard of that." She nodded.

"Me too, but I've never seen it in action before," Izzy glanced down at her friend. "I never knew that Alyssa had it in her deck."

Cassie just looked blankly at the both of them, "Care to explain? What the heck does Sword and Shield do?" she demanded of them as Keith activated said magic card.

"No need to really explain. Just watch," Simon indicated below to where the ATTACK and DEFENCE points of every monster on the field swapped over so Keith's monster was now stronger than Alyssa's. "It switches the ATTACK and DEFENCE points of Slot Machine and Summoned Skull for one turn."

"And one turn is all that Keith needs," Cassie nodded, cottoning on, "Although Allie used Axe of Despair, it only affects ATTACK. Her DEFENCE didn't change." Her eyes widen in horror as she saw that Slot Machine now had 3000 ATTACK, " Summoned Skull only had 1200 DEFENCE points. It'll be destroyed and Allie will lose."

"Slot Machine," Keith ordered as a sneer covered half his face. "Attack that pathetic monster and win me this duel." The machine's three screen spun started spinning until slowly eventually as each screen was showing one word – ATTACK. As the last one locked in place, the Slot Machine took aim.

"I activate Magic Jammer," Alyssa yelled, flipping over the card she had played earlier and discarding another from her hand.

"Too late loser," Keith laughed, "I win." Smoke bellowed from the gun towards Skull before both monsters were consumed by the grey smoke When finally it cleared, there was one monster still standing – Summoned Skull. Slot Machine was nowhere to be seen.

"What, this can't be?" Keith shouted, the smug expression now long gone from his face. "I should have won."

"Think again, Howard," Alyssa said smiling, "I activated Magic Jammer. By discarding White Ninja from my hand," she indicated her graveyard, "I was able to destroy the effect of one magic card," She paused again for dramatic effect, "I chose Sword and Shield, so my monster is safe and sound and back at full power, unlike your monster, Howard."

Keith glared venomously at her as she smirked at him, ordering her Summoned Skull to attack him directly. "As you were saying, Howard, I win." The holograms vanished as Keith's life point plummeted to zero. Alyssa eyed her opponent again, "I'm curious Howard," she asked, folding her arms, "Why were you so sure that I didn't have my card? Would it because you stole it?"

Keith sneered at her,

"And how would you know? You've got no proof."

Alyssa returned the smug expression,

" I left that card out purposely because I knew that you would try and steal it." She added, "You don't deserve the title of former champion. You're nothing more than a thief, Howard."

"And a cheat, as well," Pegasus interrupted, standing up, staring at disgraced duelist. Keith just sneered at him, but was cut sharp by Pegasus' next words. "Don't think that I didn't see your little Seven Complete trick." The Game Creator shook his head, "Hiding a bunch of Seven Complete card beneath your wrist band. So you could add them to your hand when you wanted."

"What?" Cassie demanded from above, "He cheated?"

"You tried to get me disqualified," Alyssa shouted at her ex-opponent, "You should be disqualified, you sleazy…"

"I quite agree," Pegasus overwrote her string of insults, "Guards," he ordered, pointing at Keith, "Remove this man the Island."

Despite his loud protests, Bandit Keith was forcibly dragged away from the arena. Watching him, Pegasus smiled and sat down and began addressing those who were left.

"After all the drama of the last two days, it finally reaches this point, the last match of the finals…"

There was a rush of movement as Keith stormed back into the room, without the guards. He came flying across the room and launched himself at Pegasus.

Give me the prize money," he demanded, shaking him, "And I won't punch your lights out."

"Oooh, I'm so scared," Pegasus muttered in mock tones as Keith held his collar. "What ever shall I do? I know," he stamped his left foot on a tile by his chair. "This." The floor beneath Keith vanished and with a shriek of terror, he disappeared into the darkness.

When Keith's scream faded away, Pegasus stood up- once again the charming host,

"After that wonderful entertainment," he said cheerfully, "As I was saying, we have our two finalists- Isabella Corbey and Alyssa Trent. My congratulations to the both of you, but there can only be one winner of my Duelist Kingdom Tournament," He focused his Millennium Eye on Izzy and smiled again. "The next duel will take place in ten minutes."

**A/N: I finished it! The first complete duel that I have ever written. Go me! **


	14. Friends Forever

**A/N: I'm alive! Gah, it's been so long since I wrote any of this, and then a few days ago I was quite literally hit with a flash of inspiration. So on we go...**

**Disclaimer - I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh**

Chapter Thirteen - Friends Forever

**Alyssa, will we still be friends at the end of this?**

"How can they do this?" Cassie asked, shaking her head as she watched her sister and Izzy take their places at the stadium. Simon merely shrugged as he too watched Izzy and Alyssa.

The past ten minutes break had gone quickly. There had only been enough time to grab a small drink of water before they had to return to finish the finals; to the final match. The girls had hardly spoken in that time, in fact there seemed to be a silent pact between them both to leave it to the field.

"They are supposed to be friends," Cassie muttered, not taking her eyes from where her sister was waiting tapping her figures. "Best friends since even _I can't remember_. You know how long they have known each other Simon. How can they do this?" When he did not instantly give an answer, she continued, "But how can Pegasus be to cruel as to make them do this?" She stared out at the field, "After all that's at stake in this tournament: Mike, Mokuba, Kaiba, and his company, and now, and now he's forcing Izzy and Alyssa to fight each othe. How much more suffering can he delight in causing?"

Simon exhaled, running a hand through his hair, before he turned to the younger girl, muttering in barely more than a whisper, "But that is just it; that's the point," he nodded towards where Pegasus was now sitting, "Cassie, there is so much more at stake here than a stupid card tournament."

* * *

**Maybe- I don't know, but someone has to win.**

Pegasus studied his two finalists and he smiled- he had known that Isabella would be standing before him as one of them, but the other girl, Alyssa, was an entirely different matter all together. He did not quite recall her receiving an invitation in the first place, but now it did not matter really. She had one of the necessary cards and if her recent duel was anything to go by, she had well earned her place in this tournament. The two girls were friends, best friends, but now they stood as rivals.

Isabella, he could tell was determined to win so she get her beloved brother back and if he was right, which he was as he had used the Millennium Eye to see inside her mind, she also want to save the Kaiba Brothers, but of the other girl, he was less certain. She had no motive for being in the tournament at all - none that he could see anyway.

Soon it did not matter, this duel would soon start and it would stretch their friendship to the limit.

_

* * *

_

**I know, but which one of us is it? Who will it be?**

The two girls drew their hands from the top of their deck – each studying the five cards that they would start this duel with as soon as the large clock above Pegasus' head alerted those present that it was 11 o' clock. Izzy and Alyssa used this time wisely to calculate their first moves guessing the moves that the other would make first to counter her own moves.

Alyssa finished rearranging the cards before her friend and started fiddling with the necklace while she waited for Izzy. The other girl glanced up and nodded at Alyssa, signaling that she was ready.

All the girls were doing now was waiting to begin. They stood in silence; both watching the clock and waiting for it to chime. When at last, it chimed and echoed through the hall, Izzy and Alyssa snapped their attention to each other as the officiator shouted,

"Begin!"

_

* * *

_

**We won't know unless we try. You've come along way in this.**

"I'll start things off with this," Izzy, said as she selected a card from her hand and placed it on the field. "I place one card face down on the field and," she added, as Celtic Guardian appeared on the field, "Then I play this in ATTACK MODE." She looked up at her opponent. "Your move."

_

* * *

_

**So have you. We both have.**

_Alyssa stumbled towards her mother who was deep in conversation, "It's always lovely to have new faces here," she heard her mum say to the new lady who was standing next to a buggy. Alyssa peered inside slightly to see a sleeping blob of pink with a small tuft of blond hair._

_"Thank you," the other woman smiled, "It's been really enjoyable - especially when Mike's napping."_

_"How old is he...?" Alyssa's mother looked down to see her tugging at her hand. "Oh, this is Alyssa- my youngest," she added, indicating to her, "Alyssa, say hello."_

_"Hello."_

_Another girl, she had not noticed before, peered around her father's leg. She had very fair hair and blue eyes and was clutching a teddy bear in her left hand. Her mother nudged her again, "Go on," she said smiling at her daughter, "Go and say hello."_

_"Hello," she said cheerfully, standing up and pointing to herself. "I'm Alyssa," she then pointed at the other girl. "What's your name?"_

_"Izzy," the younger girl muttered shyly, staring at the floor- clinging tightly to her teddy bear._

_Alyssa stumbled forwards again, squinting at the younger girl._

_"Nice name."_

_"You too."_

_They smiled at each other shyly._

_

* * *

_

**We could be home now- both of us.**

"I play this facedown, and then I activate this, Card of Destruction," Alyssa held it up so Izzy could see it adding, "We both used this card enough times to know what it does." She pushed her hand together and placed in the graveyard and drew a new one.

Izzy did likewise, scowling. She'd some good cards in that hand too and was slightly miffed at having to give it up now. She flicked through her new hand, trying to think of a new strategy, now that the one she was going to use was out of the window.

Then something caught her eye.

"And when you're finished," Alyssa said eventually, holding another card up "I'm going to play this…"

_

* * *

_

**With Jenny and Sam, Mum, Dad and Mike. We could be home.**

_Alyssa chewed the end of her pen as she studied the paper. She had been sitting at the table in the Library, trying to get her head around this homework for the last twenty minutes and having no such luck._

_"This is stupid," she yelled, "I don't get it." She threw her pen down on the table as Izzy sat down opposite her._

_"Need any help." Alyssa shoved the paper at her._

_"Be my guest."_

_Izzy studied it for a moment, before she smiled,_

_"Cleopatra- the last queen of Egypt," she paused, adding, "Well, strictly speaking she was Greek."_

_"I know that," Alyssa protested, "But these sources are completely useless."_

_Izzy waved her hand._

_"Well, they are like this," she tapped the paper. "You need the background stuff to understand what's going on."_

_"And can you explain it?" Alyssa asked._

_"Sure," Izzy nodded, "Does that make it any easier," she said eventually when she had finished explaining as Alyssa finished scribbling her notes._

_"Yeah. Thanks."_

_

* * *

_

**Do you remember the last time that I played this with you; I destroyed you!**

"Good ol' Summoned Skull," Alyssa said cheerily, as the demon creature folded its arms before the much smaller Celtic Guardian. "I missed him, but now he's back in action." She glanced at the field and grinned, "And I know exactly what he is going to do first attack her Guardian with Lighting Strike

Izzy shielded her eyes as the Celtic Guardian shattered into a million pieces, gritting her teeth as she scanned her hand for some way that she could get out of this mess. She had made a promise and she had to keep it._ She was not going to ask for help._

She pulled two cards from her hand, "I play this monster face down on the field in DEFENCE MODE, along with this Ancient Elf." The Purple Elf bowed his head respectfully towards Alyssa while the square next to him glowed slightly before becoming still. "And with that I'll have to end my turn."

Alyssa shrugged, "If that's how you want to play it, then I guess that's fine by me." She selected a card from her hand and played it on the field, "Strike Ninja." Alyssa's favourite card almost sprang on to the field and into a fight stance, his red ribbon belt swaying in a non-existent wind. "Go get her Ancient Elf."

Izzy closed her eyes as her Elf fell at the hands of the Ninja, only opening them again she heard Alyssa talking again, "Skull, rip her facedown card apart."

_

* * *

_

**I remember, but this time it will be different.**

Izzy merely smiled at her friend, the beginnings of a smug playing at her lips as she turned over the card that had just been attacked by Summoned Skull. "You walked straight into my trap. You just attacked Magician of Faith and in doing so you've activated her special ability that allow me to return one magic card to my hand." She put her hand face down while she picked up her graveyard and found the card she wanted. Izzy returned her graveyard to its rightful place, adding the card she had picked to her hand. She titled her head, "Have you finished your turn?"

Alyssa placed another card face down on the field and nodded.

"Good," Izzy said, holding up the card she had just added to her hand, "Because I'm activating this card, Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician." There was a swirl of purple light and dust as the Magician rose up from the ground, raising his staff towards Summoned Skull. The Skull glared at the newcomer who was now evenly matched against him at a stalemate. Izzy selected another card from her hand, "And when I attached Book of Secret Arts to the Dark Magician raising his ATTACK and DEFENSE POINTS by 300, making it more than a match for your Summoned Skull." She cocked her head, smirking, as a large spell book appeared in the Dark Magician's free hand, "Now where were we?"

_

* * *

_

**I'm sure it will, particularly with the Spirit of the Puzzle whispering instructions in your ear.**

Pegasus watched both girls curiously as Izzy's Dark Magician blew Alyssa's Summoned Skull to smithereens, dropping her life points by another 300. He turned his Eye towards Alyssa who was now drawing a new card from her deck. It was curious thing: that turn marked the second attempt by the girl to destroy Isabella, but somehow the girl had managed to turn it around and throw it straight back at her friend.

It most certainly was something that she could not do alone, and that was the most startling and intriguing thing about this duel. The Spirit of the Puzzle was not in control; every move she made was her own and by her own choice. The girl could last much longer without the Spirit to guide her. It was only a question of time.

_

* * *

_

**No. This is completely me. This is between you and me. Yami promised he would not interfere.**

Alyssa selected the card that she had just drawn and played it face down next to the card that she had played earlier, "I'm going to play Curse of Dragon in DEFENCE MODE and also switch Strike Ninja into DEFENCE MODE too. You can destroy both monsters, but my life points will remain untouched." Strike Ninja sank to his knees, with one arm raised as though stopping an attack, "With that," Alyssa added, "I'll end my turn."

Izzy studied her hand before flicking her eyes over to Alyssa's side of the field. Once again, it seemed the tables had turned, she was now the one on the offensive, while her friend was the one playing it safe, but, she noted, Alyssa had two face down spell cards on the field – either of them could be a trap card. "I'm going to play this face down and then I'll end my turn."

_

* * *

_

**Why?**

Alyssa licked her lips slightly as she drew a new card from the top of her deck and laughed, "That is brilliant; absolutely fantastic – just the card I was waiting for," she pulled a face at her friend, "But before I use it I'm going to get rid of that spell book with De-Spell." The book that the Dark Magician had been holding disappeared with a puff of smoke as his ATTACK and DEFENCE points went back down to their original numbers – 2500 and 2100 respectively. "And now I'm going to activate Polymerization to fuse the Curse of Dragon that I have out on the field with the Gaia the Fierce Knight that I just drew." The Knight materialized on the field only momentarily next to Alyssa's dragon before both creatures were lost in a swirl of light and colour. Alyssa grinned as her new monster was revealed, "Let us say a warm welcome to Gaia the Dragon Champion."

_

* * *

_

**I owe you this, Alyssa.**

_Izzy sank miserably to her knees in a section of the school library as a tear escaped from her eye and trickled down her face._

_She had been talking to Monica just before Lunch and she had been having d a go at her - telling her she needed to lighten up, that she was getting on everyone's nerves. Izzy had only just been able to force herself to stay before she had fled to the only place that she felt safe._

_"I thought I might find you here," Alyssa said crouching down next to her. Izzy said nothing, continuing to stare unhappily at the floor. "Monica didn't mean to upset you like that. She likes you really and so do I."_

_"You mean that?" Izzy sniffled, blinking at her wipping her face. "Do you really mean that?_

_Alyssa nodded,_

_"Sure I do. You're one of the sweetest people I have met," she grinned at her, "Even if you can be a little serious at times, but you're great fun too. Look, I know we've not supposed to eat in here," Alyssa pulled out a chocolate bar and broke it in two with a snap and handed it to Izzy, "But I think you need this."_

_"Thank you."_

_

* * *

_

**I told you to watch out for me.**

Alyssa grinned across at her friend, "It seems to me Izzy, that I now have the stronger monster." This was true Gaia now had 100 more ATTACK POINTS than Dark Magician, but Izzy remained unfazed as her friend pointed the knight in the direction of her magician. Her monster surged towards the Dark Magician who stood still merely waited his fate, "This duel is over."

_

* * *

_

**I know. I was watching.**

Izzy watched the attack come hurtling towards her and her monster. Her monster had no chance against the might of Gaia the Dragon Champion. At the last possible moment, she flipped her hidden face down card and shouted,

"I expecting something like that so I activate this- Mirror Force." Izzy smiled at her friend as the attack rebounded at Gaiawho shattered into a million pieces, "Simple, but oh so effective, sparing my Dark Magician from your onslaught." She tilted her head, adding, "My move." She selected a card from her hand and played it facedown on the field. She pointed her monster towards the Strike Ninja, "Dark Magic Attack."

Her opponent watched as the white shockwaves move towards her monster.

"I'll use one of the cards I played earlier," Alyssa said quickly as she turned over the relevant card, "Song of the Innocent – it allows my Ninja to escape unharmed from the attack, but in doing so my life points are now your target, rather than the Strike Ninja."

She put her hands up as the light was blasted completely at her.

_

* * *

_

**You've come along way Izzy, but this is where it ends.**

_"What about your parents?" Izzy asked desperately, "Do they know what you're doing?"_

_"Oh yeah," Simon nodded, "We told them that you invited us to come with you."_

_"But I never-" Izzy began._

_"You shouldn't have told us about Pegasus." He interrupted, brushing her protests aside._

_"You can't come with me though," Izzy tried again, "It's too dangerous. You'll be putting yourselves in danger."_

_"We can't go back anyway," Cassie pointed out the small plane window at the speeding clouds, "If you haven't noticed, we're 3,000 feet in the air and still climbing."_

_"And besides," Alyssa dismissing Izzy's arguments with a wave of her hand. "You're going to Japan! That's our ancestral home."_

_"...Ish." Cassie interrupted from behind._

_Izzy could see Alyssa shrugging her shoulders through the gap before she continued,_

_"Do you really think we're going to miss out on something like that?"_

_Simon pulled out some headphones and plugged himself in to the in-flight entertainment._

_"Face it, Izzy," he pointed out, "We're coming with you whether you like it or not!"_

_

* * *

_

**You're quitting?**

Alyssa shielded her eyes as the light faded_, _revealing her monster- unharmed, if a little shaken. Her life-points however were not as good.

"That was one really good move," she yelled cheerfully across the field at her friend, drawing a new card and putting it in her hand, "I didn't see that one coming, Izz. So I move Strike Ninja into ATTACK MODE." Her monster shifted position, standing back up on the field. "Then," Alyssa paused and laughed slightly as she herself could not believe what she was doing, "Then, then, I'm gonna quit."

_

* * *

_

**Yes**_._

There was a stony silence on the field - both on and above as its implication slowly sank in; that Alyssa really giving up, even Pegasus on his throne did not expect this and he had been reading the girl's own mind.

When Izzy eventually found her voice, she asked the question on everyone's lips, "What? You can't be serious," She watched, as Alyssa's face did not change. "But you can't..."

Her friend only smiled,

"You see, Izzy," she explained, lowering her voice, "The problem is - I am serious about this."

_

* * *

_

**Why?**

_They sat in silence by the fire and after a while, Alyssa spoke up._

_"Izzy...?" She muttered, blinking at her friend. "What happened?"_

_Her friend sat down beside her._

_"Do you remember anything?" Izzy asked quietly._

_"Nothing much," Alyssa replied slowly, "Just darkness mostly and the ever-lasting cold. It was like nothing I'd felt before." She shivered to illustrate that point, "I was..."_

_"Afraid...?" Izzy nodded as her friend removed her glasses and pulled a piece of cloth from her pocket._

_"Yeah," Alyssa muttered eventually. Replacing them on her face, she continued, "It was terrifying. I've never understood fear until then." Then she smiled, back to her normal self, "Then the next thing I know I'm dressed in a ridiculous outfit, standing opposite you lot in equally stupid outfits and I'm supposed to fight you. Then there were those large versions of us overseeing the whole thing. Crazy!"_

_Izzy looked directly at her friend, "Do you understand what it means?"_

_Alyssa shrugged, raising an eyebrow,_

_"You gonna tell me anyway."_

_Izzy smiled slightly, glad to see her friend back to normal, "We're no longer alone." She tapped the Millennium Puzzle around her neck and nodded at Millennium Ring around Alyssa's neck, "Not anymore."_

_"I've know I'm not alone," Alyssa held up her cross necklace- the symbol of her faith and added, "Both you and I know that, but now-" Alyssa sat in silence as she watched the embers from the fire flicker, "I already knew."_

_

* * *

_

**You need to get to Pegasus; I don't.**

She glanced at her monster briefly, before the corner of her mouth turning up in one of her trademark grins. She flickered her eyes over to Pegasus and then to her friend.

Her mind made up, Alyssa placed her hand on her deck and looking at the official, she declared clearly and confidently so that everyone could hear her when she said,

"I surrender!"

_

* * *

_

**Alyssa...**

"What is she doing?" Cassie waved her hands in confusion at the pair below them as the holograms shimmered away; her sister's bizarre actions making little sense to her.

"She's being a friend," Simon said quietly, "Look." He indicated below with a flick of his head. "Remember Izzy came here with one mission and now," he glanced back at her. "Pegasus is the only thing that stands in her way. He's the strongest player she has faced and she has to defeat him. I think this match was to prove to Izzy that she can do it. She's not afraid anymore." He nodded at Izzy and then at Alyssa, "That's what it means to be a real friend."

Cassie watched her sister for a few moments, before she, too, nodded.

_

* * *

_

**Izzy, will we still be friends when this is over?**

Alyssa looked across the stadium at her friend and smiled gently at her.

Izzy nodded, wiping her eyes with the ball of her hand,and with a voice, no louder than a whisper, she said,

"Yes."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. As always reviews are welcome.**


	15. The Heart Not The Head

**A/N: Here we are the final of Duelist Kingdom; against Pegasus himself. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer - I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own my own characters.**

Chapter Fourteen – The Heart; Not The Head

She just stood there, watching something far in the distance. She did not move, not even blinking. She did not even realize that she was doing it. Her breathing slowly became a pattern of rapid, short breaths while she waited for the next stage in the tournament.

Izzy sighed, closing her eyes. The last duel had been against her friend; her best friend and she had fought the battle on her own. She had asked Yami if he understood why she had needed to do it and he had not stopped her. He had accepted almost wordlessly.

How she had walked out of some of those moves was a complete mystery to her. She guessed that she must have picked up some tips and tricks from all the top duellists that they had met on the Island, and from Yami, himself.

Everything that they learnt on this Island was going to be tested to the limit in the next stage of the tournament, the very final of Duelist Kingdom and the duel against Maximillion Pegasus, the very creator of Duel Monsters.

Frowning slightly, Yami clicked his fingers in front of her face. Izzy snapped her eyes open and practically jumped out of her skin.

"Don't do that!" she yelled, steadying herself, "Blimey, you scared the life out of me!"

"Why should I not?" he reasoned, folding his arms, "I needed to talk to you before we face Pegasus. You did good earlier, you know."

"You were watching?"

Yami nodded, "Listening too; I heard that conversation you and Alyssa had. I'm proud of you."

"Oh," she mumbled, "Oh, you heard."

"Yes, I heard. She's a good friend." He sighed, "Izzy, I believe we are ready for this: we will save your brother and the Kaibas, but Pegasus has never been defeated before and he is dangerous."

Izzy cocked her head at him; "Yami, the same was said of Seto Kaiba, the 'world champion' up till a week ago and you've kicked his butt, not once, but twice since then."

"Yes, but Seto Kaiba does not have the benefit that Pegasus enjoys with the Millennium Eye. He is an opponent who can read minds and that makes him virtually unstoppable."

There was a shout from somewhere outside, a signal that the waiting would soon be over. Breathing deeply, Yami shot his hikari a small encouraging smile before he turned away.

"Yami, wait." He turned around and Izzy added hastily, "Just be careful, like you said, he's dangerous." Yami nodded as he began to fade away, "And if we loose," she said quietly as she watched her darker half disappear to start the duel, "I know I'll loose everything - even you."

* * *

"The final duel of Duelist Kingdom will now take place between Isabella Corbey and Mister Pegasus. The winner will receive the title 'King of Games' and the prize money," Croquet intoned before the two duellists. He turned to Yami, "Do you have the two card necessary to prove your challenge?" Yami responded by merely holding up the cards – Honours of the King's Right and Left. "Very good. The match will begin as soon as you are ready."

Pegasus smirked, "I knew you would reach this point; crushing all those duellists to get to me. I am honoured, truly I am. I have been so looking this."

"_Pegasus!_" Yami snarled, pointing his finger at him, "Before we start, I want you to swear that if I win you'll release the souls of Mike, Mokuba and Seto Kaiba and set them all free."

His opponent waved his hand, "Yes, yes, yes, but I can't help but wonder," he arched his eyebrows and folded his arms, "Why you would want to save Kaiba-boy after all the trouble he's caused you. I thought he was your rival."

"He maybe, but even rivals deserve compassion. You will release them!"

"Yes, if you insist, but if I do win, what do I get if _I win_?"

"My soul and the Millennium Puzzle." No hesitation.

Pegasus rubbed his hands with glee, "If that's the case, then shall we begin. Isabella, you can go first."

"Very well," Yami said snarled as he drew from his hand and played it facedown on the field, "I also play Beaver Warrior in DEFENCE MODE." The little beaver waved it's short sword defiantly at Pegasus who just gave it a knowing smile, "I'll end my turn."

"In that case, then I too will play a card face down and summon a monster in DEFENCE MODE- Red Archery Girl." Pegasus waited for the oyster that held the Red Archery Girl to materialise and crack open, and for her to wave at his opponent, before he announced that his turn was over.

Yami switched his monster around and flipped his facedown card. The Beaver raised it's sword higher as lighting and electricity rippled along the edges of the blade, thank to the bonus that the Horn of the Unicorn provided.

Above on the ledge, Alyssa tapped Simon shoulder lightly and he turned away from the duel where Yami had ordered Beaver Warrior to attack Red Archery Girl. He frowned at her, "What's the matter?"

She nodded towards the guards stationed around the hall doors; "The Guards have doubled since _we _duelled about twenty minutes ago. Apparently, this duel requires more security." Alyssa leant in close to whisper, as Pegasus counter-attacked the move perfectly, trapping Beaver Warrior in a water bubble and shocking the poor creature, reducing its ATTACK points back to normal, "But what it does mean is that there is less security elsewhere in the castle. This is the ideal point that we can go and look for Mokuba Kaiba. The Pegasus' goons are going to be more interested in what happens in here."

Simon shrugged and lifted himself from the ledge he had been leaning on. In a rather twisted way that makes sense.

"What about me?" Cassie asked, raising her head at her sister.

"You stay put," Alyssa said with a wave of her hand as the pair of them walked away, "And shout encouraging stuff at her, or the Spirit who whoever it is that's duelling down there. Tell her not to give up and stuff like that."

"Stuff like that, _great_!"The younger girl noted sarcastically rolling her eyes as Pegasus switched his own creature into ATTACK MODE and launched an attack against the Beaver Warrior. The poor creature did not stand a change as it shattered into a million pieces.

* * *

"Why do I let you talk me into these things?" Simon hissed to Alyssa from their current position in the dungeon, "First last night and now this." The pair of them had gone off to try and find Mokuba Kaiba while Izzy faced off against Pegasus upstairs. They had come to the realisation that most of the security would be up there and so that this was the only time that they were ever going to get to rescue the boy.

Alyssa did not seem to hear him as she peered around the corner. She ducked back as Simon inched forwards, "Because you know I'm right?"

He shot a look, and muttered, "Although, I do wish I knew what happened last night. Are you sure you can't remember?"

"Can you catch air? Of course I can't, I said I couldn't," she waved her hands towards the corridor, "Any way, there are two guards watching those bars, so I'm guessing that's where he is."

"So what do we do? Go in all guns blazing?"

Alyssa turned her face away as she answered, "Something like that." Simon never saw the sinister smile of the Spirit of the Millennium Ring as he heard her repeat, "Something like that."

* * *

Pegasus grinned manically as he continued his turn, "And before I forget, I'll activate Copycat and I think I'll use it on your Summoned Skull that was destroyed earlier." A cat-like creature made seemingly of rubber bounced across the field and began moulding its face. Before it had finished it was lost in a swirl of energy with Toon World.

When finally, the energy calmed and the field was once more silent, Pegasus smirked, "Toon World opened to the Demon Liar." Obedient as always, the pages shuffled forwards before it fell open at a new page, springing a cartoony version of Summoned Skull.

Yami watched in mild horror as the demon creature put one claw to it's face and giggled, waving across the field. "_What the hell have you done?"_

Cassie agreed with the sentiment, calling out to Pegasus, "It is such a good job that my sister is not here to see that." She immediately slammed her hands over her mouth, "You didn't hear me say that!"

Pegasus merely smiled, pointing the 'new and improved' Skull at the creature he had earlier turned to stone and ordered an attack. The statue shattered into a thousand pieces as Yami's life points plummeted again. The Toon Summoned Skull sniggered again before disappearing back into Toon World. "I sense you loosing your fighting spirit; are you going to surrender?"

"It's not over yet, Pegasus," Yami snarled, holding the card that he had just drawn in his spare hand, "There are too many lives at stake for me to give up now." There had to be a way to beat the Millennium Eye. He selected another card from his hand. "I play Dark Magician and activate Magical Hats." For a brief second, the Dark Magician lingered on the field before it disappeared beneath a single hat. It then multiplied by four spreading across his side of the field.

Pegasus sneered, already knowing exactly which hat the Dark Magician had been placed in: the far left one. He waved a finger at his opponent, "Isabella, you've forgotten that _you_ choose the hat your Magician is hiding under, and therefore I know exactly where he is." The book opened once more to Summoned Skull, "Destroy the hat on the far left."

The bolt of electricity came hurtling towards the hats when Yami became aware that someone was calling him,

/YAMI!/

* * *

He opened his eyes and blinked, realizing that he was in the place surrounded by the shadows that he occasionally brought Izzy when he needed to talk to her, primarily in the middle of a duel.

"It's about time," Izzy called, jogging toward him, finally spotting him. "I never though you'd hear me."

He frowned, "But how… I thought you couldn't control this?"

Izzy folded her arms, "I never said that I couldn't control; I just said it might take some getting used to it, and beside," She waved her hands at the shadows, "If you get to drag me in here when I'm in control; it stands to reason that I can drag _you_ in here too." she finished with a shrug.

"Well done, I didn't think you would be able to do it this soon, but that's not why you called me here, is it?"

His hikari shook her head, "No, we need to talk about the duel. Yami, Pegasus can see through every move you make and that Toon World card makes him practically invulnerable."

Yami nodded, "I know that he is reading my mind because I can feel a piercing stab as though someone is seeing my head like a book every turn and I can't stop him."

Izzy tilted her head, "Maybe you can't; or at least not on your own." When Yami shot her an odd look that demanded an explanation, she elaborated, "Every other time Pegasus has fought with a player, it had been against someone with one soul and one mind. We have two; that has to be something we can use to our advantage. It might be possible that he can only read one mind at a time."

"Go on."

"Well, we'd have to work together, and shuffle back and forth…"

"So if I played something, then instantly switched with you before Pegasus had time to read my mind…"

"He'd end up reading my mind, which wouldn't know what you had just played. And when I played a card, we switch again, not giving him the chance to read which card was played," Izzy finished with a smile. "It's crazy, but it might be the only chance we've got."

"You know, Izzy, that just might work," Yami returned the smile and held out his hand to his hikari. "Shall we?" She seized his hand and both were blasted with white light.

* * *

"Destroy the hat on the far left," Pegasus bellowed at the Toon Summoned Skull. The Skull sniggered as it raised its arms creating the electricity that it need for the attack and threw the bolt forwards towards the indicated hat. The light was too bright for anyone to notice the Millennium Puzzle glow ever so slightly.

When the light had fade, but the dust had yet to settle, one hat had been blasted to pieces. "That's impossible," Pegasus snapped when he realized that the Dark Magician was not there, "I saw perfectly where your monster was in your mind!"

"Maybe, but _I _moved him," his opponent smirked, as the dust finally settled, revealing Izzy standing at the other side of the stadium, "Because you didn't read _my mind!_"

"Isabella?"

"You were expecting someone else," she said with a grin as she drew a card from her deck and before she had time to even register which card it was she played it face down on the field, "Come on, then Pegasus, try my mind and see if you can read the card that I just played."

He scowled, but focused his energy on the girl's mind, in doing so he missed the Puzzle flash again.

"Don't even bother trying to read my mind Pegasus," Yami smirked, back in control again, folding his arms, "Because I don't even know what card was played. It seems you can't read minds instantly; it takes time and I switched when you doing it." He pointed at Pegasus, "That's way to beat the Millennium Eye – Mind Shuffle. Now, if you don't mind, it's your turn."

Frowning, Pegasus drew and added the new card to his hand, "I am impressed that you came up with something like this, but you still can't attack me. All you can do is sit and hide in the Magical Hats."

Yami tilted his head, "True, but you've got to pick the right one." He gestured towards the remaining hats, "There is a three in one chance of you picking the right one, but I wonder, Pegasus, can you do it? Or are you a coward who is too used to the Millennium Eye and can't trust his own instincts."

Pegasus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Now you mention it, it has been a while since I relied on my own instincts." He paused, "If that's is how it is to be then, I suppose I'll play along. I switch the Skull to ATTACK MODE and attack the Hat in the middle."

The hat shattered into pieces, but again there was no Dark Magician. Yami waved his finger mockingly, "Wrong again, Pegasus. I'm right, you know, the mastery of any game comes from two things: good judgment to know the rules and the instinct to put them in to practice at the right moment, both stemming from the same source- confidence. You've lost yours in the years you've had the Eye. You've relied too much on the Millennium Eye to know what that really is anymore and in fact, Pegasus, I believe my own hikari has ten times the courage and confidence that you have," Yami added as he sank back and gave Izzy control. She drew as she had done previously and placed it down on the field, before relinquishing control once more. "Your move."

"I play this, Magical Neutralizing Force to get rid of your Magical Hats." The two remaining hats shimmered away, leaving the Dark Magician exposed to attack. "This game does not need instinct, but the intelligence to act without taking unnecessary risks, and now I bring forth the Toon Summoned Skull to blast Dark Magician into oblivion."

"NOW!" Izzy yelled, forcing control again as the Skull began collecting the energy that he needed, "I activate Living Arrow which allows me to use your own magic card against you." A golden arrow appeared on the field hovering in the air. "Did you not notice that Yami was trying to provoke you while I drew the cards we needed. When you got irritated you played a card to get rid of the Magical Hats which is exactly what we wanted, because I can now send it straight back at you using Living Arrow." She pointed at the floating book, "Go and destroy Toon World."

The arrow bolted through the air and collided with the book, shattering it instantly.

"You may have gotten rid of Toon World, but you're too late to save your Magician."

"You've just proved how bad your instincts are, Pegasus," Izzy said, grinning from ear to ear as she held up the Mirror Force she had played down first. "This has gotta be the oldest trick in the book and you fell for it!"

Pegasus shielded his eyes as his toon monsters were ripped to pieces by his own attack. When it was over, he started to clap, "I applaud you for that, I need to give you much more credit than I have given you thus far so I'll take this game to a more worthy stadium – the Shadow Realm."

"The Shadow Realm?" Izzy asked, almost croaking her reaction.

"Oh, yes, you've been there before, haven't you?" Pegasus smirked, seeing her obvious discomfort. "I think I'll let you in on a little secret. The game that you and I know as Duel Monsters is not the original, no, that was played over 5,000 years ago at the court of the Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt. They used real magic and monsters whereas we use cards. I created Duel Monsters to bring this game to modern times and now that I am facing a worth opponent, I shall be able to recreate the ancient battles.

His hair lifted almost unnaturally as the Millennium Eye gleamed and shot out a beam of white light as darkness descended around the stadium. Izzy felt her chest contract painfully and she winced; she started to find it hard to breath. She leant forwards holding on to the edge of the stadium, closing her eyes.

As she did so, she heard Yami calling her,

/Izzy, this is going be too much for you. You might die. I'll take it from here./

/But/ Izzy protested weakly, /But if I don't help, Pegasus will read your mind and we'll be back to square one, and if you lose, you lose your soul - either way Yami you need me!/

"If you're ready, Isabella. We'll begin the Shadow Game."

* * *

"Hey," Cassie turned around to see Simon and her sister with Mokuba ambling towards her from where they had gone early. Correction, Simon was carrying the limb body of Mokuba on his back and Alyssa was holding Simon's arm, looking completely and utterly disorientated and confused. "Have we missed much?" Simon said with a grunt as he set the younger boy down on the ground.

"Izzy found a way to beat the unbeatable Toon World card by shuffling back and forth with the Spirit of the Puzzle. It was quite cool actually," Cassie waved her hand over the stadium and the large black orb that had appeared only moments before. "And you missed that."

"What the heck is that?"

Cassie shrugged, "I don't know, but I heard Pegasus say something about a shadow game, whatever that is?"

Alyssa instantly sobered up, "A shadow game?"

"That's what Pegasus said. Why?"

"Whatshisname, Bakura, he's mentioned it when I slept once or twice. It's bad. Very bad!"

"Why?"

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that it's not something we really want to know."

"Well, it makes me glad I got rid of him," Simon snorted, "It's a good thing he's not around anymore!"

Cassie arched her eyebrows at that, "What happened to you anyway?"

Simon and Alyssa looked at each other, "You better explain," Alyssa said eventually, "I was out of it for most of the time."

"Well," Simon began, "We got down to the dungeon, no problem. Found Mokuba, again no problem. Few guards, nothing too much to worry about, but then muggings here," He waved his hand at Alyssa who pulled a face at her friend, "Had to go and get repossessed by Spirit of the Millennium Ring…"

"Hold on a second, didn't Izzy say that he'd been dealt with?"

"Apparently, it didn't quite work because he showed again. He gave me a hand to start with, got rid of the guards for starters, but when we get Mokuba, he demands to 'have the boy'. By this point more guards have shown up, and I begin to realize that we are in serious trouble."

"Sorry, that was probably _my fault_," Cassie rubbed her arm sheepishly, "I sort of yelled at Pegasus and sort of said you weren't up here anymore."

"So anyway, more guards show up and he deals with them and then turns back to me and asks for Mokuba. He admits he needs him because the boy is soulless and therefore perfect for him to use as a host," Simon sighed as he drummed his fingers on the ledge, "I couldn't do that, could I? So I kinda ripped the ring off her neck and tossed the thing out of the window and into the forest."

"Is that it?"

He nodded.

They stood for a moment watching the black dome in silence,

"She's in there, isn't she?" Simon muttered quietly, after a few moments.

"You better look after her in there, you hear me, Spirit," Alyssa yelled at the black dome, "Or I will personally hold you accountable and strangle you myself."

* * *

Pegasus chuckled as Yami watched in horror as Dark Magician destroyed the Curse of Dragon that had been absorbed by Relinquished and took a large chunk from his own life points.

"Because Relinquished can absorb monsters, it takes on their ATTACK and DEFENCE points, and so if you attack you are merely attacking your own monster and you will take the damage."

Yami gritted his teeth while Pegasus took his turn and absorbed Dark Magician into itself. There was nothing he could do to stop it. His frustration backlashed against Izzy.

She pushed her own mind forwards,

/Please, if you just sit, there he'll read you straight through. I can take over while you think of a plan!/

/No, you'll get hurt! It's draining your life energy. Stay there!/

/It's doing the same to you. You can't take much more either!/

And with that, she forced her control, pushing Yami backwards into the depth of her mind, despite his protests. Izzy struggled to stand back up, wincing with pain as she drew a card from the top of the deck and placed it on the field facedown.

"I summon Feral Imp in DEFENCE MODE," she managed to muster enough strength to summon the creature, but it would not last for much longer. Pegasus merely chuckled, before he beginning his own turn.

/Please, Yami, don't give up/ Izzy whispered as the newly played monster was obliterated. /Use this; I know you can beat him because I believe in you./ And then, at last the blackness that had been threatening to swallow her since Pegasus had started this shadow game overcame up and she slump to the floor, still clutching her hand, oblivious to everything around her.

/_IZZY_/ Yami bellowed, shaking his fallen hikari physically and mentally, hoping beyond all hope that she was faking it, but she would not move. /Come on, wake up!/

When he came to the realization that she wasn't going to wake up, Yami let the anger flow through him, "You have no idea what you've done," he roared, standing back, taking control once again.

"Your partner has already fallen," Pegasus noted with a wave of his hand, "She couldn't take the pressure, which means your little mind shuffling trick is not going to stop me from reading your mind; I'll know every card that you draw, so why don't you just give up now."

Drawing from his deck, Yami snarled, gritting his teeth as he felt that piercing stab that meant Pegasus was reading his hand again, "While there is still breath in my body, Pegasus, I will play to the bitter end." He slammed the card the new card on the field, "I summon Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress in DEFENCE MODE."

Pegasus sneered at the small dragon that materialized on the other side of the field and roared at him, "If that is the case, then so be it." He pointed Relinquished in the direction of its prey and ordered it to absorb the Winged Dragon. Relinquished slowly opened its jaws and as it had done previously sucked the poor dragon into itself. "And I'll also play Jigen Bakudan- the living time bomb."

"What?!"

"The Jigen Bakudan is the final part of the sacrifice combo move. The bomb will go off in two turns taking with it all the monsters on the field with it, and as you well know if your monsters are destroyed, it is you who take the damage." He laughed, "And with the latest absorption, when Jigen Bakudan goes off, you'll take 3900 damage – more than enough to wipe out the rest of your life points."

Yami chewed his lip as he realized the truth of Pegasus' statement. As Relinquished had no ATTACK or DEFENCE POINTS of its own, Pegasus would not take any damage, but _he_ would. If the bomb went off, he would loose, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. He had nothing in his hand and Pegasus would instantly see any card that he drew.

"Come on then, you're the first person to get rid of Toon World. You have two turns to figure out a way of saving yourself, though I'll doubt if you can do it."

Yami closed his eyes; it was pointless. It really was game over.

Suddenly, he became aware of something pulling at his spare hand, clutching his arm, slowly pulling themselves upright. To say that he was more than a little surprised when he turned to see Izzy trying to pull herself to her feet, was an understatement, "I thought you were dead," he muttered to her, sounding almost relieved.

She smiled weakly, "You can't get rid of me that easily, you know, Yami. If there is one thing that I have learnt on this Island is that if you trust your heart, rather than your head, then you can't go wrong. Believe in yourself and in the cards, and don't give up just yet, because I'm not ready to give up on you."

Pegasus' remaining eye widen at the sight of Izzy somehow scrambling up next to her darker half; weak, but still very much alive.

"So your partner is back then, I guess she was stronger than I thought, but no matter, you still can't win!"

"Is that the case?" Yami asked, raising his eyebrow as he drew the top card from his deck. At the same instant, he did so, Pegasus activated the Mind Scan to see into his mind, but instead of the usual image of the card, he could not see it. It was there no doubt, but large bursts of flames in front of the card prevented him from seeing it for what it was. He staggered backwards, startled, as Yami activated a magic card, "Magical Boxes."

One box appeared on the field around Jigen Bakudan, its partner materializing partly in Relinquished. A moment later the first box reopened, revealing a freed Dark Magician from the monster, and then the second one followed, leaving behind the Jigen Bakudan imprisoned

Pegasus pointed across the field "You may have freed your magician, but there is still nothing you can do! I'll pass to speed your demise."

Yami picked a card from the top of his deck and immediately activated it, "Brain control will allow me to take over Relinquished for one turn."

"You still understand, it's too late," Pegasus shouted across the stadium, "Jigen Bakudan will explode at any minute."

His opponent shook his head; "I still have one more card left to play, the one that Izzy left me to play, the card that will bring you down, Pegasus. She put her faith in me and I put my faith in her judgment." He held up the card so that his opponent could see it, "Dark Magic Ritual, the only way to summon one of the strongest Magicians in Duel Monsters." There was a glow from within Relinquished as Wing Dragon and Jigen Bakudan were drawn from it and consumed in an explosion of light and sound and energy. When all was calm, and the dust had settled, there was one creature still standing, a tall mage in purple and black with a quarterstaff. "A magician born of the union of light and dark, the Magician of Black Chaos."

Izzy sniggered, "I could have sworn I'd heard something like that before."

Yami too chuckled, picking a card from his hand and placing it face down on the field, "And I'll also summon Kuriboh." The small brown fluffy creature that appeared from side to side, almost dancing in the air.

Pegasus narrowed his eyes as he began his turn.

"My turn signals the end of Brain Control," he growled, brandishing two cards from his hand, "And I use Polymerization to fuse Relinquished and Thousand Idol into the more deadly and feared creature known as Thousand Eye Restrict." There was a further explosion on the field as the two monsters collided, leaving in their place a large blob creature with hundreds of closed eyes over its body. "Open your eyes and freeze that Magician and the fluffy ball." The eyes of the creature cracked open instantly causing Yami's monster's to stop in their tracks. "You see as long as the eyes of Thousand Eye Restrict are open, your monsters are paralysed with fear." Grinning manically, he added, "Now absorb that Magician of Black Chaos and end this duel."

"I activate Multiply," Yami quickly flipped over the face down card he had played earlier as many more Kuribohs started materializing on to the field, protecting the Magician from the deadly light, "If you want to get to the Magician, you'll have to go through Kuriboh first."

The small creatures started spinning around as they were sucked into the belly of the Pegasus' monster and started growing on the outside of Thousand Eyes Restrict like mold.

"The advantage of Kuriboh," Yami continued smugly, "Is that by having low ATTACK and DEFENCE points, it can have special abilities, such as exploding like a mine when it comes into contact with other monsters." As it they had been waiting for that moment, the Kuribohs exploded, blinding the Thousand Eye Restrict completely and the Magician of Black Chaos the ability to move and attack the now defenseless blob.

"I may loose 300 life points, but it is worth it to free the Magician."

Pegasus' face fell as he realized what that meant. "It can't be; you can't!"

Izzy smiled lightly, from her position, behind Yami, _"Oh, but we can, Pegasus, just watch us."_

"This is it, Pegasus, are you ready for the end?" When no witty response came, Yami shrugged and pointed at his monster, "Blast Thousand Eyes Restrict into the next Millennium." The Magician of Black Chaos leaped into the air as it raised its staff, blowing the blob into pieces.

"It's over, Pegasus," Yami yelled triumphantly, pointing at his beaten opponent as the shadows slowly dissipated, clearing the air. "We win!"

* * *

The black dome shattered into a thousand pieces revealing the red and blue stadium. Simon and the Trent sisters leant forwards to see that the holograms were shutting down which meant one of two things – a computer malfunction or it was all over and someone had won. If it was the later, then they all prayed that the winner was…

"It's over, Pegasus," Yami shouted triumphantly, pointing at his opponent who was holding his head in his hands. His cards scattered across his playing field. "We win!"

"_YES_!" Simon screamed punching the air as Cassie and Alyssa hugged each other, cheering loudly, "We knew you could do it! Yes!" He high-fived Alyssa as Yami turned to them grinning as much as they were and waved at them all.

* * *

"That was fantastic!" Izzy cheered, her spirit back to normal now they were out of the Shadow Realm and back in the place with the purple shadows again. She threw her arms around her darker half's neck, "You were _brilliant_! You did it. You saved Seto and Mokuba and Mike too. I don't know how to thank you enough!"

He chuckled, returning the hug, glad to know that she was alright again. It had been a terrifying few moments when he had believed her to be dead. "This was your victory as much as it was mine, Izzy, remember that. It was after all, it was your idea to use the Mind Shuffle and the solution about using the Magician of Black Chaos. You were right; I could not have done it alone." She let go of him and stepped back, "And now," Yami continued, "If you don't mind holding on for a few more moments before you take over, Izzy, there is something I need to do first. Pegasus has the end of a bargain to fulfil."

Izzy nodded and waved her hand, "Be my guest."

* * *

Yami blinked, refocusing his eyes as the stadium came into view and there on the other side of stadium was Pegasus. The game creator still had his head in his hands, clearly unable to believe that he could have been defeated.

"You have a bargain to fulfil, Pegasus," Yami shouted across the field. "You said if I won, you would free the souls of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba and Mike, and I have."

Pegasus straightened back up, his Millennium Eye no longer gleaming as it had done. He nodded, motioning one of the officials to him and whispered something to him. The official nodded, and left the room.

The creator sighed deeply and swept up his cards, "I will go and release their souls. It may take a while for the souls to arrive back at their bodies." He turned to leave, but before he did, he added quietly, "And for what it's worth, I am sorry."

"Hey," Cassie shouted from somewhere behind them. Yami gathered his own deck and stored them safely in his pocket, before he turned around and smiled, slipping back and giving Izzy back control. "You did it!"

Behind her was Alyssa and then came Simon who was carrying a small figure on his back. She instantly recognised the boy that they had meet two days previously and to whom she had given her word that she would stop Pegasus from taking over his brother's company.

"You found Mokuba?"

"Yeah, there's a bit of an adventure there, but we couldn't find Kaiba though," Simon grinned after he had high-fived his friend, "So '_King_ _of_ _Games'_ how does it feel, then?"

Izzy blinked as she started tapping her pockets, trying to find something, "What?"

Alyssa rolled her eyes and pointed after Pegasus, "He _was_ King of Games, but _you _just beat him, which means that by default the title is now yours! Not to mention, that the guy said at the start of the duel and I quote: 'the winner will receive the title of King of Games'. Surely, you didn't forget that?"

Izzy raised her eyebrows, "I was little more concern about staying alive, thanks."

"You now realise that Kaiba and every other duellist of self-worth is going to be after you now, don't ya?" Cassie pointed out.

"_What_?" Izzy stopped searching her pockets for a moment and looked at her friends.

"You can't seriously expect to win a major tournament like this, and beat the creator himself, and head back into obscurity." Alyssa waved her hand at Izzy's startled expression as she finished digging her pockets. "For starters, there is no way on this earth that Seto Kaiba is going to let you get away from him without a fight." She smirked slightly, "He'll probably gonna transfer to Compton when we get back. He's not going to leave you alone."

"Is he? _Could he do that_?" She scowled in frustration, "_Darn it_, I must have left it in my jacket!"

"What have you left in your jacket?"

"My phone!"

"Your phone?" Cassie stared at her incredulously, "What the heck are you doing with that? Why did you bring it?"

"Yeah, I did, Dad promised that they'd call me if there was any change in Mike, and _so now_ I'm expecting the call. The signal is actually surprising good here, better even than at home, would you believe. Jenny texted me, there has been a new discovery in Egypt, a stone tablet. She thought I'd be interested." She sighed, "I gotta go up and fetch it."

Simon shrugged and shifted Mokuba on his back, "We can head up there anyway; we need to fetch our bags anyway. We may as well go with you."

" I have got to find the toilet," Alyssa shook her head, "Can you bring my rucksack down. I'll catch up later 'kay?" She waved them through the door. "_Idiots_," Bakura sneered as they disappeared, before he too left. He had unfinished business with the old fool who possessed the Millennium Eye.

* * *

Pegasus stood at his desk, staring at the three cards in front of him. He made a promise to Isabella and now he would keep it. He had never been a man to go back on his word.

Blinking slightly, he waved his hand over the three cards. As his hand passed over each one, the image faded as each soul was released and free to go and find a way back to their bodies.

Sighing again, he turned around, only to find the girl, Alyssa, blocking his path. She had followed him from the main hall. "What are you doing here?" he demanded as she sneered at him. Slowly, she raised a glowing golden ring and Pegasus turned pale. "_No_," he whispered, "_It's impossible_."

Bakura laughed at him.

"_Fool_," he hissed, before he smirked, "You failed, but I'll give you one last chance to redeem yourself - beat me in a shadow game and I'll give you this." He indicated the Millennium Ring.

Hesitating for a moment, Pegasus nodded. Bakura chuckled - the old fool was already weak from all the energy he had used in the shadow game with Izzy and the Spirit of the Puzzle. This was soon to be the second game that Game Creator would loose this morning.

* * *

Izzy slipped her jacket on, pulling her mobile phone out of her pocket and checked for any missed call. There were none; it made sense, Pegasus had said that it may take a while for the souls to reconnect, and Mike's soul had to travel half-way back around the world. She sighed and stored her phone in her jean back pocket. Turning around, she took one last look at the room before picking up her bag and slinging it on her back.

She pushed the door open and stepped out into the bright light of the corridor. Cassie and Simon looked up from where they had just muttering darkly, next to the still limb body of Mokuba. Cassie was already wearing her bag and held her older sister's in her left hand, while Simon had his own and his feet. Izzy arched her eyebrows at them, "What's the matter with you two?"

"We just remembered."

She frowned, "_Remembered what?_"

"We just remembered what happened last night," Simon elaborated, "It just clicked as though someone flicked on a light or something. We just couldn't remember anything until now. It was the Millennium Ring or the Spirit within it."

Izzy just looked confused.

"I thought Yami got rid of him in that duel when we were all monsters and banished him to the Shadow Realm. How could he have he escaped?"

/That is precisely what I wish to find out!/ Yami muttered darkly, supplying his opinion on the matter.

"Well, he showed up again when we were rescuing Mokuba, and before you ask, he actually helped," he added, seeing Izzy's questioning expression. "For a while anyway…"

Cassie waved her hand at the older girl, "It's a long story, we'll tell you later, but the gist of _this story_ is that we found a tower and, of course we had a look and found some kind of ceremonial battle going on."

"We interrupted," Simon continued where Cassie left off, "And got caught by Pegasus. I think he was going to send us to the Shadow Realm and then Alyssa, or the Spirit or whoever it was made the Ring glow and said something about everyone forgetting until _he required us to remember_."

Izzy stared at them both for a moment, "That's not good," she admitted finally. "I really don't think that that is a good thing." Her darker-half nodding his agreement.

Simon picked up the younger boy, "I'll carry him again, but won't be able to carry my bag too." He looked at Izzy, "Can you carry it for me? I'll take it back as soon his soul comes back or we can leave him somewhere where he's going to be safe!"

She did as he requested, throwing his bag over her shoulder, and asked simply,

"Which way?"

Cassie pointed along the corridor, back down the way they came. "This way."

Before they had gone too far, they were stopped partway by one of the officials, "Excuse me," he said, standing in their way, "I have been looking everywhere for you. Mister Pegasus told me to give you this," he held out a card to Izzy who just looked blankly at it. "This card was painted by Mister Pegasus, himself - the Ties of Friendship and this too," He also held out a white envelope. "A check for £50,000 British pounds."

Izzy felt her jaw drop. "But that was..." She protested, "But I..."

The official waved his hand, "The winner of the tournament," he recited his instructions, "Regardless of which card they provide at the finals receives both title of 'King of Games' and the prize money. " He explained to them, "Mister Pegasus' orders."

"Just take it," Simon hissed as he adjusted Mokuba on his back, "This kid is starting to get heavy."

Which of course she did- storing it safely in her pocket.

"And once again, he sends his congratulations," the official added, stepping to the side and moving along the corridor.

They watched him go for a few moments, before Cassie interrupted,

"Are we going to stand here all day?" she asked, "Or, are we going to find that tower?" She pointed along the corridor, "I still think it was this way."

* * *

Three thousand miles away, Mike opened one eye, then the other. He lay there on the bed, yawning and licking his lips - that had been one good sleep and now he decided, he was hungry as he stretched out his arm to reach his lamp, so he could read.

Only, it wasn't there.

Confused, Mike sat up like a shot and blinked. This was not his bedroom, but a hospital room. He had been lying a hospital bed and around the room where not his books and models but life support machines.

Waking up in a hospital is never a good sign; but life machines? He shuddered.

_What the heck? What had been going on?_

His thoughts paused as his belly grumbled again. Forgetting that, he needed food. He noticed next to the bed was a wooden desk- decorated with a dozen 'Get Well Soon' cards. He ignored them and instead focused on a box of chocolate chip cookies next to them and as luck would have it, there was one left.

The last thing he remembered was watching that creepy video with Izzy in the lounge. Mike shrugged as he reached for the cookie, he'd ask Izzy next time he saw her.

_And speaking of Izzy, where was she anyway? Where were Mum and Dad too?_

Mike continued to ponder this while munching the chocolate cookie and when a nurse, who had come in carrying a clipboard, to find him sitting there, screamed the whole hospital down, he was left wondering what on in need had had been going on.

* * *

Alyssa opened the door of the bathroom and stepped out into the hall, only to be run into by someone, sending both of them flying. She sat up, rubbing her arm, which had caught the brunt of the force, blinking at her sister who was on the floor next to her, also rubbing her arm. "Would you look where you're going, Cas'?"

"Well, if you wouldn't step into my path out of nowhere," Cassie grumbled sitting up, "I wouldn't need to. We remembered what happened last night!"

The sisters scrambled to her feet as Izzy and Simon finally caught up with them "Yeah, yeah, I heard ya – last night with the monster battle." She tilted her head, grabbing her bag from her sister, "Some of it is still blurry though. I can't remember all of it."

"I think that might be because at some points the Spirit of the Ring was in control…." Izzy paused, trailing off, frowning slightly at the specks of bloodstain on the bottom of her friend's shirt and on her collar, "You were bleeding?!"

Cassie's head shot up, demanding,"Bleeding? _Where_?"

"Oh, yeah, " Alyssa shrugged, holding up one of her fingers which had a small cut on it, "I must have caught it on something earlier. I just cleaned it up."

Izzy nodded, although not entirely convinced, "Yeah."

"Are we heading up to the Tower then?"

"Well," Cassie mumbled, scratching her head, "That's where we were going when you walked into me."

"You ran into me first…"

"You were standing there like a lemon!"

"It doesn't matter who did what?" Simon snapped from behind them both, pulling Mokuba on his back. "_Just_ _go_!"

They started jogging again, until they came to a commotion at the end of a corridor. There was cluster of guards coming down some stairs, carrying the limb body of Pegasus between them.

"What happened?" Simon asked eventually, voicing what they were all thinking.

Croquet turned his head as he passed them, "Mister Pegasus is feeling unwell. There is no to worry about."

They watched the guards leave, before Alyssa turned to her sister.

"You want to take a look?"

Cassie grinned at her older sister, bounding up the stairs "Of course."

"I'll leave Mokuba here," Simon muttered, setting the boy down and taking his bag from Izzy. "If someone comes, we should hear it."

Izzy watched the shadows vanish in the corridor, before she turned as the others done previously towards the stairs.

"What's the matter?" Yami enquired materialising next to her, as she shook her head and started up the stairs.

"I don't know," she blinked, "It's just that something doesn't feel quite right."

It was a large study room hidden away from the world in this tower. There were several painting canvases and painting equipment, many were portraits of a pretty young woman and there right in the far corner was a patch of blood smeared on the carpet.

Izzy knelt a few meters away from it while the others had a look around the room.

/ You're right to be suspicious. I think I know what happened here./ Yami muttered grimly materialising next to her again. She nodded, looking up at him.

"I know. Someone must have ripped out the Millennium Eye."

"Did you say something?" Alyssa asked turning around.

Izzy pointed at the blood and repeated what she had just said, "It's no wonder Pegasus didn't look too good downstairs, because someone has pulled out the Millennium Eye."

"But that's a good thing, isn't it, though? He can have two normal eyes again."

Izzy swallowed hard, "I don't think so, I think the Eye replaced his normal one so…" She trailed off, wincing at the very thought.

Cassie screwed her eyes and shuddered, as she wandered over to the desk, where there were three empty cards sitting in a row, "He must have released them before… Hey," she picked up a small notebook and flicked through it, "I think this might be his diary."

Izzy tilted her head as she walked over to them, "Should you be reading that? I mean it's his diary. He should be allowed to have his privacy."

Simon arched an eyebrow at her, "Did he allow privacy when he used the Millennium Eye."

She sighed, they had a point, "I suppose, it wouldn't hurt."

"_My darling Cecilia, it seems so long ago that I last saw you, but with each passing day brings me greater hope that I will see you again," _Cassie read. _"It feels like only yesterday that I first laid eyes on you, my beautiful angel, and from that moment we were inseparable. You were my life; my light; my muse. No day brought me greater happiness than the day you agreed to be mine. It seemed that from the moment you said: "I do" you were snatched cruelly away from me. I could no longer paint; my inspiration failing me completely and before I knew I was in Egypt._

_I became so lost and alone, until a strange man, an Egyptian dressed all in white approached me and said: "You will not find the answers you seek here. What happened to your wife was not of your doing; so do not grieve. You would also do well to leave this place." And with that he turned and left me. I was amazed for I had never seen him before, yet he appeared to know everything about me._

_I followed the man out into the desert and into a cave where I saw the most amazing things. He stood before a large stone statue which had seven slots, two of which where filled by a pyramid and a ball, but soon I was caught._

_The man spoke again to me as I was forced to me knees before him: "You should have left this place while you could." Now you can not leave unless you are chosen by a Millennium Item._

_He selected a small golden ball from the statue and held it up so that I could see it._

"_You will be tested by the Millennium Eye to see if you are worthy, and if so you will be the bearer of it. If not, it will kill you." He held the golden ball to my face and I screamed. I know I screamed, but the pain stopped and for the briefest of seconds I saw you again._

_I left Egypt to begin a new project. It would be a card game known as Duel Monsters._" Cassie paused, her eyes flicking further down the page, "Hold on, there is another entry here:

_I have studied the writings on the seven Millennium Items and believe I can use them in conjunction with the latest holographic software from Kaiba Corporation to bring you back to me. In the CEO's absence, the board has agreed to sell the company to me, if I restore the companies gaming reputation by defeating Isabella Corbey, the girl who destroyed Seto Kaiba. There is another reason for inviting the girl to my island for she holds the Millennium Puzzle, the last remaining Item that I saw in that cave that day. It will not be long before you are with me once more." _Cassie closed the book put the diary back down and looked at them, "He did all of this to get his wife back."

Simon rubbed his forehead, wearing a frown on his face, "If Pegasus needed the technology from Kaiba Corp. and the Millennium Items," he rubbed his face, as her turned to Izzy. "Why didn't he just ask?" Simon asked bluntly, "I mean, he did not have to go to all the trouble of buying out Kaiba's company. I'm sure Kaiba would have let him use the necessary equipment."

Alyssa rolled her eyes at him, "Yeah," she said sarcastically, "As if Kaiba would lend Pegasus anything and as for the Millennium Items, Izzy," She turned to her, "Would you let Pegasus borrow your Puzzle?"

"_No_."

Alyssa turned back to Simon, "Proving my point."

Simon shrugged, "It was only a thought."

"I can't help but feel a little sorry for him, knowing about his wife," Cassie added quietly staring once more at paintings, "I know it still doesn't make up for what he's done to you or to Mike or Mokuba or his brother, but you know…" She trailed off as footstep and movement could be heard beneath them.

They glanced at each other, "I think something is going on downstairs," Simon said eventually, heading for the stairs, "We should go and check it out."

Alyssa and Cassie shrugged; following him down the stairs, but Izzy hesitated for a brief moment, scanning the room for one last, catching sight of a small photo of Pegasus and his Cecilia.

"For everything you've done, no one deserves to have to have the fate that you had." Izzy murmured quietly, "I don't think anyone should have to suffer having their own eye ripped out," she whispered to the room as she turned to the stairs, knowing that Pegasus would not hear her words, "And for what it's worth: _I do forgive you_."

Just as she put her foot down on the first step, something inside her told her to stop. Her father had always insisted that you had to follow your instincts and when they told you to do something, he advised that you did it. He had often said that it'd saved him on more than one occasion in the past.

Izzy trusted in her father's advise and stopped a few steps before the staircase ceiling. It was a good job that she did, because a white vortex of light and dust grew from nothing right in front of her and to her complete and utter surprise, eventually a man dressed completely in white stepped out in front of her. He was in full Arabic clothing and wore a golden Egyptian ankh around his neck. To say that Izzy was speechless was an understatement.

He looked hard at her face before he noticed the Puzzle around her neck. "Can it be?" He gasped, "The Puzzle had been solved - such a thing should have been impossible? After five millennia, it has solved!" He glared at her, "You have the Millennium Puzzle!" He demanded, "How did you get it?"

"It... it came through the post," Izzy answered uncertainly. "From somewhere in Egypt; I don't know exactly where, but…"

He eyed her suspiciously, "You could be lying."

"No, honestly. It arrived," she paused briefly and counted her fingers, "Eleven day ago."

He still glared at her suspiciously. "Even so," he closed his eyes and held the anhk in one hand, "There has been a disturbance in the alignment of the Seven Millennium Items. An Item is not where it should be," he snapped his eyes open. "Pegasus' Millennium Eye has been stolen by a thief. I will probe your mind with the Millennium Key to see if you are the one I seek."

Before Izzy had time to protest, the man pressed one end of the ankh against her forehead and her vision blacked out.

* * *

He walked along the corridor, becoming slightly unnerved as he passed bright flaming lamp. The path kept straight ahead with no change of direction. There was clearly no life here, but it was strange there had to be something here. He had never heard of a living person to have nothing in their minds before.

He stopped his train of thoughts abruptly. At last he had arrived to a door, possibly the entrance to her soul room, but again, there was another problem. There was another door directly opposite. This was most peculiar because most people only had one door in their minds.

Apparently, this girl had two soul rooms

The door on the right has shut and had a large looming brass eye that seemed to challenge all trespassers who stumbled on it. The man shivered slightly as he looked at it.

The other door looked much more ordinary. It was just a plain wooden door and unlike the other one was ajar so he pushed this door open first.

It was a small cottage sitting room with a hearth on one wall, allowing a roaring fire to burn and glimmer. There was a window to the far side of the room, revealing some kind of scenery - he couldn't tell exactly at this distance.

_So she finds home to be her comfort_.

In the middle of the room was a wooden table. It was of similar style and make as the door. It was very simple in design and had a single candle flickering on it and a book lying open next to it. He touched it slightly,

_There's something in her mind that gives her hope and faith._

He glanced around for some kind of answers. He soon found it hanging up on a wall. It was photos of her family and friends.

_Those she holds close to her heart._

But something was wrong- some of the photos were covered by partially shadows while others were completely covered. They were still there, but they couldn't be seen.

_She fears for them._

He brushed his hand on a bookcase and pulled out a book. It didn't have a cover and was old and battered. He flicked through and put it back on the shelf.

_She dwells on mysteries on the past._

He walked around the table to the fire and put his hand in to feel to the warmth.

_She's passionate about what she believes in._

He paused and watched the shadows that danced across his hand and across the room.

"She's haunted by something," he said finally as an afterthought.

He turned his attention to the window. There was a little teddy bear sitting on the window_. _He was smiling, waiting for someone to cuddle him and tucked under him, was a small drawing - a child's drawing, spoilt by angry scribbleof frustration,

_The result of a temper, _he noted as he moved towards the door. He glanced around the room again. "There is no sign of darkness that has interfered with the Millennium Items inhere," he pushed the door open, "Perhaps I will be more lucky with the other door."

* * *

He pushed the other door with his hand, peering inside.

This room was dark and empty to the other room's light and warmth. These rooms appeared at a glance to be so different that they could not possible be from the same mind.

_Was it a possible that this girl had a split personality?_

Cautiously, he stepped in to this second room - unsure of what would await him in the darkness. The outside of the room was an impenetrable black - a darkness of unknown, but to his surprise, a soft light, revealing cobbled slabs, illuminated the middle of the room.

Turning back to the door, he therefore did not notice that figure emerged from the shadows and started to smirk at him. Sensing that he was no longer alone, the man spun around to see who it was.

"A visitor? That is new, I must say."

"You!" Yami just smirked at him again. "Who are you?" The man demanded fiercely, "Why are you here and what are you doing here in this girl's mind?"

Yami just waved his finger; "I don't think you are not in any position to be making any demands in here; not until I find out whom _you are _and what _you purpose _you have here. You won't get any further until I get an answer."

The man tilted his head slightly, "My name is Shadi and I am the guardian of the Seven Millennium Items." He paused, "My family have watched over the Items for five thousand years since the times of the Pharaohs and I'm here because an Item is not where it is supposed to be."

"Stolen?" The man nodded, and Yami continued, "And you believe that I'm this thief?"

"You have invaded this girl's mind; why should I believe anything else."

Yami shrugged. An idea came to him and he smirked again,

"I'll tell you what," he said eventually, folding his arms, "If you want any answers, I'm afraid you're gonna have to go and find them."

Shadi laughed at him,

"This room is small," he raised an eyebrow, grasping the Millennium Key in his hand, "It will not take me long to find out what it is that you are hiding, and I will change it so that your influence will not poison the girl's mind any longer."

Yami narrowed his eyes dangerously, "I'm afraid it's not so easy as you think!" He clicked his fingers and the dull light expanded - filling the room with bright light.

"It's impossible," Shadi gasped as he stared at the labyrinth of corridors and doors that had been hidden in the darkness. He squinted at the detail engraved on the walls, "This is like the tomb of one of the ancient pharaoh." He glanced again at the labyrinth before him. "This is truly a complex mind."

"If you find the right room, I'll be there waiting for you," Yami chuckled, bringing Shadi from his thoughts, the challenge of his game glinting in his eyes. "If," he added as he faded away into a wall.

Shadi stood for a moment and sighed. This mind really was breaking all the rules that he knew, but if he wanted any answers in this place, it looked like it would have to go look for them. And like any other quest, you wouldn't find anything until you started looking.

Tentatively, Shadi stepped forwards- expecting something to happen, but nothing did. He shrugged away his foolish thoughts and stepped over to the nearest door.

He opened it peered inside. There was a rush and a whistle of air as a giant circular block plummeted from above. Shadi jumped back, only narrowly missing getting squashed.

He stood back up and dusted himself down. "This may take a while," Shadi sighed before picking a corridor and moving cautiously down it.

He continued his search in this fashion for a while, but the only things that he seemed to find were trap activations. In the short time that he had been in here, he had faced falling blocks, rooms with no floors, flamethrowers, rolling boulders and various metallic objects thrown in his general direction. He really wasn't wanted in here, but that made him all the more suspicious and determined to find what was been hidden.

Eventually, Shadi stopped at another door. His hand rested the door handle. Was this it? _No, it did not feel right._ He moved to the next-door along and pushed open this instead.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Yami. Delighted that he had finally won this strange game, Shadi moved into the middle of the room. The floor crumbled beneath him- it was another trap. He was just able to grab hold of a loose slab before he plummeted into the darkness below. If he had fallen, he would be lost in this mind forever, he thought grimily, and there are other things that don't last forever either. And sure enough, his grip was slipping. Just as his fingers slipped from the slab, something shot out and grabbed his hand and hauled him up.

It was the girl.

"I'm _really_ sorry about that," she apologized, when Shadi was safely on solid ground, "I swear that Yami has one incredible weird sense of humour."

Shadi nodded, still gasping for breath. "It is to be expected," he gasped, looking at her, "The Millennium Puzzle must be designed to keep out intruders. I am not welcome here."

Izzy shrugged; as she looked up the corridor - it wasn't actually a room after all. "Now, how do we get out of here?"

Shadi looked at her strangely, "You mean that you don't know the way out?" he asked curiously.

"Well last time, I was here, Yami showed me the way out, or rather he took me out. I was sort of falling asleep at the time so I don't remember." Izzy glanced up and down the corridor, "So no, I have absolutely no idea where we are or how to get out again."

Shadi sighed and started along the corridor that he had not come along. She sank into step beside him, "Hey, you didn't tell me your name was anyway?"

"My name is Shadi," he said eventually, glancing at her, "And I protect the Millennium Items from falling into the wrong hands. There are seven items: the Scales; the Rod; the Necklace; the Key; the Eye; the Ring and the Puzzle. The Eye has gone missing from it's host."

"_And you think I did it_?"

He didn't speak for a few moments, but when he did, it was not to answer her question but to pose his own to her.

"I have a question for you- there are two presences in your mind- his and yours." He looked at her. "Why is that?"

Izzy shrugged. "I don't know. It just happened," she paused and added, "I can't explain how or why. It just happened when I solved the Millennium Puzzle. Yami… he's fantastic really. I don't really know where I would be this week without him…" She trailed off and moved on.

He watched her curiously as they moved along the corridor.

_It's like the Puzzle knows that she's here,_ he noted with a grim smile, _No more traps have been released since she has been with me. The Spirit of the Puzzle must know that she's in here and he will not harm her. _

"This could prove slightly problematic," Izzy muttered eventually stopping quite suddenly, bringing Shadi from his thoughts. "This could cause serious problems!"

"Why?"

"Two words," Izzy said flatly, "_Over_ _there_," she indicated to where the Dark Magician was waiting for them - his staff raised ready to attack them.

Shadi turned pale. "We are doomed then," he whispered, "If the Dark Magician destroys us in here, our bodies will die too."

"You could have told me this earlier," Izzy hissed, turning back to him, "Let me try though, maybe, I can convince the Dark Magician to let us pass."

"It's impossible," Shadi shook his head, "The Dark Magician will not listen. In ancient times, there was only one person that could order the Dark Magician and that was the Pharaoh himself."

"Well, he's not around now, is he?" Izzy shot back at him, "What else can we do? Please, I have to try," Shadi watched her determined expression and nodded. She shot him a grateful smile and moved forwards.

"We're not here to do any damage," Izzy put her hands up, and then dropped them to her sides. "We're just lost, so please just let us pass." The Dark Magician still didn't lower his staff but instead, continued to glare down at her. "You know me, Dark Magician, you know me," Izzy continued hastily, "_I might yell at him for being a complete idiot_, but I would never hurt him," she added quietly, "Trust me, please, and let us pass."

There was no way that they could tell if Izzy's words had sunk in. The Dark Magician didn't flinch, but slowly, his face softened and he lowered his staff. Izzy breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Shadi watched this exchange quietly - a slow realization dawning on him as the creature who had once only obey orders from the Pharaoh, now obeyed this girl's instructions.

_Could it really be what he thought it was?_

_After all these years, was this the thing that they had been waiting for?_

"I've made a mistake," he announced suddenly, causing Izzy to jump, "I have seen all that I need."

* * *

"I have found all I need. I apologise for my intrusion in your mind - to both of you," Shadi repeated, turning away from her, backing down the stairs, "You are not the thief, but the Chosen One, but promise me this child," He swung back around to face her. Izzy just stared at him, "Protect him always; for I know he will protect you."

Izzy blinked at him,

"What?" She demanded, moving forwards; "Wait a minute!" But it was too late; Shadi had already gone in swirl of light.

/That was interesting/ Yami chuckled, materialising beside her. He then turned to her and asked, /Do you really think I have weird sense of humour?/ Izzy shook her head, declining to comment.

"Come on!" Simon yelled up at her. "You coming down or what?"

"I'm coming. I'm coming," Izzy muttered as she descended the stairs to rejoin her friends, shaking her head as she did so, "What's the… Mokuba!" Her voice trailed off as she realised that the younger boy was alright again. In fact he was upright, moving, talking and smiling, definitely the owner of one soul. "Hi Mokuba," she said eventually, "How you doing?"

"I'm brilliant," Mokuba grinned back at her, "You defeated Pegasus and you saved my brother's company. Thank you so much." Then, he changed the subject, he added, "And speaking of Seto, where is he?"

"Good question," Alyssa whistled, grinning slightly manically, "The last time we saw him - he had stamped off in a mood at the end of his re-match with Izzy."

"Just after he just bounced back on to the roof," Simon butted in, "After he fell off the tower."

"What?"

"It's a long story," Izzy said shaking her head. "I'll fill you at some other time."

"He was fine, then," Cassie shrugged, "Not so fine, after Pegasus stole his soul, though."

Mokuba declined to comment on that.

"Come on then," Alyssa grinned, slapping Mokuba on the back, "Let's go find that brother of yours, shall we?"

* * *

It didn't take them long to find him. Seto was sitting on a small wall outside, apparently waiting for them to show up. Mokuba charged past them, barrelling past them towards his brother, and hugging him fiercely.

Simon tilted his head as they walked over to the brothers, "Is it me or is Kaiba actually smiling…OUCH!" he rubbed his head where Cassie's hand had just collided with it.

Seto flicked his hand towards Izzy, "I'll say thanks for now, but this is far from over between us. I…" He was interrupted mid-sentence by a NCIS ringtone that began playing, filling the otherwise silent air.

"That's me! Sorry," Izzy fished into her pocket, instantly pulled out her phone and answering it. Seto merely glared at her.

"Hello. Dad!" They heard her pause, listening to whatever her father was saying. "That's brilliant, I'm so glad to hear that." She paused, listening to something else. "Mike's back." She mouthed, giving them the thumbs up. Then she heard something else, "Oh, that, it was good too. It's over now; we're going to be leaving the island soon. We should be home by Sunday. Love you too." She clicked her phone off, and grinned at the three of them, "It worked. The Doctors are at a complete loss, though but they have already discharged him from the hospital."

"What was the last bit about?"

"He wanted to know about the tournament," she smirked at them all, waving her gauntlet slightly, "Let 'um have one piece of good news at a time, I think. Mike is more important at the moment, but we did it. All of us, we actually did it. Thank you, I couldn't have done it without any of you."

The four of them smiled and laughed. It had worked, everything was back to normal the way it should be... almost...

They still had to get off this island; and with Pegasus out for the count that was probably easier said than done. If all the boats had gone, then that meant that the only way off of this island was by air and the only person who had a helicopter was walking away from them with his brother.

That person was Seto...

_"Kaiba, wait for us!"_

**A/N: So we reach the penulimate chapter with everything starting to wrap up neatly with just the epilogue to go. Hope you enjoyed this and join me with the final chapter of Flight of Dreams. **


	16. Everything is Changing

**A/N: Welcome to the final chapter of Flight of Dreams. It's taken a long time to reach this point, _we are talking years here,_ but finally here we are at the end.**

**I want to thank my three faithful reviewers for their encouragement to me to get this written and so I dedicate it to them. Sit back and enjoy the last part of Flight of Dreams.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I do own any original characters.**

Epilogue - Everything Is Changing

A yellow sailing boat gilded along the crystal blue waters in the distance- happily bobbling away into the setting sun as a flock of birds squawked overhead. The sights and sounds of the nightmare were slowly fading with evening light.

The sound of the nearby airport roaring with its daily toil brought her out of her daydream and she smiled. Their plane was due to leave shortly and they would arrive home in England, slightly jet-jagged and mostly likely grouchy, ready to start again at school on Monday.

_So much for half-term holiday, she thought wryly._

Izzy shrugged.

After all this time on the Island, constantly worrying for her brother and the safety of her friends, she had to admit, it would be nice to see Sam and Jenny again, even Monica with that frequent scowl of hers.

She couldn't deny that Duelist Kingdom had been interesting to say the least. Admittedly, she knew deep down she had had some fun on the Island and had met some good people, Mai Valentine for starters. In fact she had probably come away better for being her and doing this.

And that wasn't even mentioning that 'new' title.

Izzy shuddered. King of Games; now, that was going to take some getting used to. Heck, she hadn't given that much thought while she had been in the stupid tournament. Her constant thought had been to save Mike, and later the Kaiba brothers, Mokuba and Seto.

Actually, thinking about it, Izzy came to the realization that she had in fact not realized that there was a actual prize money and title for the Winner of Duelist Kingdom. She had been so involved in her own battle with Pegasus that she'd forgot that this was a proper tournament.

However, there was someone who had not forgotten.

And that person was Seto Kaiba.

Seto had given them a lift in his helicopter back to the dock, after all four of them had chased him and his brother when they had come to the realization that they had no way of getting of the Island.

When Mokuba had been saying goodbye to the others, Seto had forcibly dragged her into a corner to reissue his challenge, seeing as the first time he had tired, he had been interrupted by Izzy's phone.

"This isn't over between us," he'd hissed to her before re-boarding the helicopter, "I will be back, Izzy and I will reclaim what should be mine." He'd indicated his briefcase at that, "We'll duel again soon."

Besides the title didn't really belong to her; it belonged to Yami. He had done the actual work for it and although, he had tried to dismiss his part in it, but they both knew he was proud.

She didn't mind. In fact, that just made her grin wider. Izzy smiled. The first time that she had genuinely smiled all week because this time she had a reason to smile. They had done it; they had won and now they were going home.

But that wasn't the only thing that was currently on her mind. She frowned as she remembered Shadi, the strange Egyptian man who had appeared to her on the steps of the tower room, and then somehow had unlocked her head and had seen into her mind. She self-consciously touched her forehead; Shadi had gone one step further than Pegasus and had physically gone into her mind. Izzy sniggered at the thought of how confused he must have been when he had realized that she was not alone in there and that Yami was in there too.

He had gone in to try and locate the thief who had stolen Pegasus' Millennium Eye, but what he had found, what ever it was that he discovered, had made him reconsider and withdraw from her mind. Shadi had then called her 'The Chosen One', whatever that meant, and then he had said: "Protect him always; for I know he will protect you."

"Something's are not to dwell on," Yami noted as he materialized next to her in spirit form. "For even, I don't have all the answers. You shouldn't worry. "

"But what about Kaiba?" Izzy sighed, not yet glancing at her darker half, "Alyssa mentioned something about him most likely transferring to our school to come and find me."

"And, we will deal with him when the time comes, but right now, our priority is getting back home to England. I expect your family will be pleased to see you and hear the good news."

"I guess you're right." She agreed, finally turning to him and smiling, "But everything is going to change now, isn't it, Yami?"

Yami opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a shout from across the dock. "Hey Izzy!" Alyssa called, causing them both to turn around, "I know the ocean is all pretty and all, but are you going to sit there and watch it all day or are you going to come and catch the plane with us?"

"You ready to go home?" Izzy asked with a tilt of her head, lifted her bag on her back. Yami nodded, returning her smile, fading back into the Millennium Puzzle, before Izzy smiled one last time, before she jogged over to where Simon, Cassie and Alyssa were waiting at the other end of the docks.

For she was right, everything was changing: some for the better and while others for the worse, but life for Isabella Corbey would now be far different from what she expected. She would not mind though, for she had some of the greatest friends in the world that would see it all through with her.

* * *

"_It failed."_

"_I know. I can see, thanks. I'm not blind!"_

"_It failed, yet I can clearly remember you promising me that this grand idea of yours was going to work."_

"_And I thought it would - how was I to know her desire to save her brother was much stronger than the power of Pegasus' Millennium Eye. It was supposed to work."_

"_You should honestly have known better than to rely on that old fool."_

"_Fine, next time- I'll do it myself."_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because I said, no. I need you to keep a low profile for the time being, that's why. I don't want you to go off and blow yourself up, because who will I have to help me. You need me and I need you. No. We'll send someone else next time because mark my words, Bakura, this is only the beginning."_

_**THE END**_

* * *

**A/N: Well, here we have it. ****I suppose this is the time for some confessions. As I stated earlier, this fic has been long in coming, and I began with every intention of doing Izzy's adventures through out all the series, but I'm no longer planning on doing this. There will however be a sequal in which the later adventures will be revealed. If you want to know any more or when it is up, then let me know. **

**Til then, have fun!**


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